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J 0 U E N A L

FIFTH VOLUME.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY
BY

GEORGE P. PUTKAM & Co., 10 PARK PLACE.

MDOOOLVI.

A 6

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 185C, by the

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut

PRINTED BY E. HAYES,
NKW HAVEN, CONN.

CONTENTS

FIFTH VOLUME

Page.
SELECT MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY ........... i-iii, xxxix-xliii

MEMBERS, ............................................. iv, xliii

LIST OF MEMBERS, Corrected to October, 1856, .................... xlv

ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY AND CABINET, Aug. 1854 — Aug. 1855, . . . v-xxii

Sept. 1855— Oct. 1856, xxiii-xxxviii
ART. I. — GRAMMAR OF THE MODERN SYRIAC LANGUAGE, AS SPOKEN IN

OROOMIAH, PERSIA, AND IN ZOORDISTAN, by Rev. D. T.

STODDABD, Missionary of the American Board in Persia, ... 1

MISCELLANIES :

L Letter from Rev. J. L. Porter of Damascus, containing Greek

Inscriptions, with Pres. Woolsey's Remarks on the same, .... 183

IL Armenian Traditions about Mt. Ararat, (by Rev. H. G. 0.

Dwight,) ............................................ 189

III. Remarks on two Assyrian Cylinders received from Mosul, (by

E. E. S.,) ............................................ 191

IV. Vestiges of Buddhism in Micronesia, (by J. "W. G.,) ........ 194

V. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES :

1. Bopp's Comparative Accentuation of the Greek and Sans-

krit Languages, (by W. D. W.,) ..................... 195

Mft.

2. llernisz's Guide to Conversation in English and Chinese,

and Andrews's Discoveries in Chinese, (by M. C. White,) 218

3. Roth and Whitney's Edition of the Atharoa-Veda, (by

E. E. S.,) 226

VL Phoenician Inscription of Sidon, (by E. E. S.,) 227

VII. The Sidon Inscription, with a Translation and Notes, by Wil-
liam W. Turner, 243

VIII. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE :

1. From a Letter from Rev. D. T. Stoddard, of Orumiah, 259

2. From a Letter from Rev. D. B. McCartee, M. D., of Ninypo, 260

3. From, a Letter from Rev. A. H. Wright, M. D., of Orumiah, 262

4. From Letters from Rev. L. Grout, in S. Africa, 263

5. From a Letter from Rev. A. Bushnell, in Equatorial
Africa 264

6. From Letters from Rev. Dr. J. Perkins, of Orumiah, 265

7. From Letters from the late Rev. H. Lobdell, M. D., of
Mosul 267

8. From a Letter from Rev. E. Webb, of Dindigal, India, ... 271

9. From a Letter from Rev. Dr. E. Smith, of Beirut 272

10. From a Letter from Rev. F. Mason, Missionary in Bur-

mah, 273

. 11. From a Letter from Prof. C. Lassen, of Bonn, 273

SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE, (by E. E. S.,) 274

ART. II. — ON THE NESTORIAN TABLET OF SE-GAN Poo, by Mr. A.

WYLJE 275

ART. III. — ON THE AVESTA, OR THE SACRED SCRIPTURES OF THE ZORO-
ASTRIAN RELIGION, by WILLIAM D. WHITNEY, Professor of
Sanskrit in Yale College, 337

ART. IV. — CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ATHARVA-VEDA TO THE THEORY OF
SANSKRIT VERBAL ACCENT, by WILLIAM D. WHITNEY, Pro-
fessor of Sanskrit in Yale College, 385

MISCELLANIES :

Page.
L EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE :

1. From a Letter from Rev. A. II. Wright, M. D., of Oriimiah, 423

2. From a Letter of Rev. W. M. Thomson to Dr. DeForext,. . 425

3. From a Letter from Prof. C. Lassen, of Bonn 425

4. From a Letter from Rev. D. T. Stoddard, of Orumiah, . . . 426

5. From a Letter from W. W. Turner, Esq '.'. . 426

II. Ideas respecting an Alphabet suited to the Languages of

Southern Africa, by Prof. C. A. Holmboe, of Christiania,
Norway 427

III. Notice of Die lonier vor der lonischen Wanderung von Ernst

Curtiut, (by J. H.,) 430

COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION

FOR 1855—1856.

EDWARD E. SALISBURY,
JOSIAH W. GIBBS,
CHARLES BECK,
WILLIAM D. WHITNEY.

AETICLE I.

GRAMMAR

MODERN SYRIAC LANGUAGE,

AS SPOKEN IN

OROOMIAH, PERSIA,

KOORDISTAN.

. D. T. STODDARD,

MISSIONARY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD IN PERSIA.

VOL. V.

ERRATA.

Page 9 (note), for " or at the end of a syllable " read " when con-
nected with the preceding ; or as a medial, when connected
with the preceding and separate from the following letter."
" 193 for "siderian" read "sidereal."
" 228 " " ancient edifice " read " an ancient edifice."
" 231 " SX read *|X.

" 234 " " divinity of the Sidonians" read " gods of the Sidonians."
read

IN VOL. iv. No. 2.

Page 343. For " Edward " read « Edmund."
" xvii. Supply the name of John R. Bartlett in the list of Corpo-
rate Members.

SELECT MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

A Semi- Annual Meeting was held in New Haven, on the 18th and
19th of October, 1854. The President of the Society, Rev. Dr. Rob-
inson, in the chair.

The following papers were communicated :

The Alchemy of Happiness by the Arabian Philosopher Mohammed
Al-Ghazaly, translated from the Turkish with Notes ; by Mr.
Henry A. Homes, of the State Library, Albany.

On the Identification of the Site of Ancient Pella, being a portion of
a forth-coming new volume of Biblical Researches ; by Rev. Dr.
Robinson, of New York.

On the Avesta, or the Zoroastrian Scriptures; by Prof. W. D. Whit-
ney, of New Haven.

On the Armenian Version of the History of Alexander the Great,
supplementary to a Paper on the Syrian Version;* by Rev. Pres.
Woolsey, of New Haven.

On the Armenian Tradition as to the Resting-Place of Noah's Ark;
by Rev. H. G. O. Dwight, Missionary in Turkey. With some re-
marks upon Mr. Dwight's paper, by Prof. J. W. Gibbs of New
Haven.

A Table of Scripture Proper-Names with their Equivalents in Perso-
Kurdish, with an accompanying letter on the character of the
language of the Assyrian inscriptions ; by Rev. H. Lobdell, M. D.,
Missionary at Mosul.

On the Alphabetic Representation of the Sandwich Island Languages;
by Rev. H. Bingham, of New Haven.
The Corr. Seer, also read extracts from a letter of Chevalier Khani-

koff, Russian Consul-General at Tabriz, to Baron von Humboldt, on

the variations of the level of the Caspian Sea.

* See Journ. Am. Or. Soc. vol. iv. pp. 357, ft

The subject of a change in the amount of the assessment, annually
levied upon members of the Society, being taken up, it was moved
by Rev. Pres. Woolsey, seconded, discussed, and unanimously re-
solved : " That the members of the Society pay henceforth the sum
of five dollars annually into its treasury, instead of two dollars as
hitherto ; and that the amount required to constitute a life-member,
be seventy-five dollars."

The condition of the library, and the expediency of its removal
from its present place of deposit, having been brought to the notice
of the Society by the Corr. Seer., the following resolution was offered
by Dr. Beck, debated, and unanimously voted : " That it is the opin-
ion of the meeting now assembled, that a removal of the library of
the Society from Boston to New Haven would be, under the present
circumstances, expedient and desirable ; and that the subject be re-
ferred, for further consideration and decision, to the next meeting to
be held in Boston."

An Annual Meeting was held in Boston, on the 23d and 24th of
May, 1855. The President of the Society in the ehair.

Prof. Whitney made a brief report in behalf of the committee on
the library ; and the subject of the removal of the* library to New
Haven was taken up. It was voted : " That the partial report made
by the committee on the library be accepted, and the committee dis-
charged." It was also voted, without dissent : " That the library of
the Society be removed to New Haven." The Librarian, together
with Professors Salisbury and Gibbs, were appointed to carry into
effect the vote respecting the removal of the library, and to prepare
rules for the use of the same, and a catalogue of the books ; with
authority to draw on the treasury for such funds as may be needed
for these purposes.

On motion of Dr. Beck, it was voted : " That the thanks of the
Society be communicated to Mr. Folsom for his faithful and useful
services as Librarian during the period in which the library has been
under his care in the Boston Athenaeum."

The officers of the last year were re-elected, with the exception

that Prof. W. D. Whitney of New Haven was chosen Librarian in

the place of Mr. Folsom, in consequence of the vote of the Society

to remove the library.

The following papers were communicated :

A Report of what has been done in this country towards reading the
Phoenician Inscription discovered at Sidon in January, 1855 ; by
Prof. E. E. Salisbury, of New Haven.
Communications on the subject, received from Prof. W. H. Green

of Princeton, Rev. Dr. W. Jenks of Boston, and Mr. W. W. Turner

of Washington, were submitted to the Society. Rev. Dr. Murdock

of New Haven also expressed his views ; and some remarks bearing

on the date of the inscription were made by Dr. C. Pickering.

Letter from Rev. J. L. Porter of Damascus to Dr. Robinson, con-
taining Greek Inscriptions. With Remarks on the Inscriptions,
by Rev. Pres. Woolsey.

On the Topography and Antiquities of Ccele-Syria North of Baalbek,
being a portion of a forth-coming new volume of Biblical Re-
searches ; by Rev. Dr. Robinson, of New York.

On the Sanskrit Accent, being a review of a work recently published
by Prof. Bopp of Berlin on the Sanskrit accent as compared with,
the Greek ; by Prof. W. D. Whitney, of New Haven.

Observations on a Tour in Kurdistan; by the late Rev. H. Lobdell,.
M. D., Missionary at Mosul.

Remarks upon Two Assyrian Cylinders received from Dr. Lobdell
of Mosul; by Prof. E. E. Salisbury, of New Haven.

Review of a " Guide to Conversation in the English and Chinese
Languages" by Dr. Stanislas Hernisz ; by Rev. M. C. White, Mis-
sionary in China.

Additional Remarks on the Division of Zulu Discourse into Words;
by Rev. L. Grout, Missionary in S. Africa.

Some remarks were also made by Prof. Felton, of Cambridge, on the
Present State of the Modern Greek Language and Literature.

Rev. B. J. Bettelheim, M. D., Missionary in the island of Loo-Choo,
having been introduced to the Society, made some observations re-
specting the Japanese language and literature.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen have become members of the Society
since the publication of the last List of Members.

1. Corporate Members.

Rev. W. R. Alger, of Boston.

" A. N. Arnold, late Missionary in Greece.

" J. F. Clarke, of Roxbury, Mass.
Mr. S. F. Dunlap, of New York.
Prof. W. H. Green, of Princeton, N. J.
Rev. A. L. Holladay, of Charlottesville, Va.

" F. W. Holland, of East Cambridge, Mass.
Mr. H. A. Homes, of Albany.
Rev. J. W. Miles, of Charleston, S. C.
Prof. Schele de Vere, of Charlottesville, Va.

2. Corresponding Members.

Rev. J. W. Johnson, Missionary in China.
Chevalier Khanikoff, Russian Consul-General at Tabriz.
*Rev. H. Lobdell, M. D., Missionary at Mosul.

" D. J. Macgowan, M. D., Missionary in China.
Prof. Max Miiller, of Oxford.

ORTHOGRAPHY AND ORTHOEPY, 9-21

The alphabet, 9 ; vowels, 12; modification of vowel-sounds, 16 ;
some peculiarities of 2, Of, O, •*, and X, 18; talkana, 20;
accent, 20 ; punctuation, 21 ; Nestorian manuscripts, 21.

ETYMOLOGY, 22-144

Pronouns, 22-27 : personal, 22 ; demonstrative, 22 ; relative, 23 ;
interrogative, 24 ; indefinite and distributive, 24 ; suffix, 25 ;
reciprocal, 27.

Verbs, 27-111 : conjugation of jLACf , 28 ; classes of regular verbs,
34 ; class first, conjugation of *fy*-^ , 35 ; verb with negative
particles, 43 ; list of verbs of class first, 45 ; class second, 51 ;
conjugation of hOXS, 52; list of verbs of class second, 57 ;
irregular verbs of class first : first radical 2 , 60 ; second radical
2 or * ; 63 ; second radical iw , 66 ; first or second radical * ,
66: third radical 2, 68; third radical X, 72; verbs doubly
irregular, 74 ; irregular verbs of class second : verbs of four
radicals, 78 ; list of such verbs, 80 ; causative verbs, 87 ; second
radical iw , 89 ; third radical 2 , 90 ; third radical iw , 91 ; irreg-
ular causatives, 92 ; synoptical table of irregular verbs, 94 ; pas-
sive voice, 97 ; verbs with suffixes, 102 ; relation of modern to
ancient verb, 10Y.
Article, 112.

Pagei.
Nouns, 112-127: gender, 112 : number, 114 ; case, construct and

emphatic state, 117 ; derivation of nouns : patrial, 118 ; diminu-
tive, 119 ; abstract, 119 ; verbal, 120 ; nouns from foreign lan-
guages, 125 ; composition of nouns, 127.

Adjectives, 127-131: gender, 127; number, 128; comparison,
128 ; derivation, 129.

Numerals, 131-134.

Adverbs, 134-140 : adverbs of place and order, 134 ; of time, 135 ;
of manner and quality, 136 ; general remarks, 138.

Prepositions, 141-143.

Conjunctions, 144.

Interjections, 144.
SYNTAX 145-176

Article, 145 ; relation of nouns to nouns, 147 ; adjectives, 149 ;
subject and verb, 150 ; predicate nominative, 152 ; substantive
verb, 152 ; object of the verb, 153 ; pronouns, 154 ; moods and
tenses of verbs : indicative, 158 ; subjunctive, 161 ; subjunctive
after particles, 165 ; infinitive, 167 ; participle, 170 ; substantive
verb, 170 ; adverbs, 171 ; prepositions, 171 ; conjunctions, 172 ;
phrases, 172 ; salutations, 175.
SPECIMENS of the language, in poetry and prose, 177-1 80

APPENDIX, 180a

CORRECTIONS, 180 f

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

IT is an interesting fact that, although the Nestorians of
Persia have for many centuries been conquered and out-
numbered, and have had very little share in civil affairs, and
their brethren in the Koordish Mountains have enjoyed only
a doubtful independence, they have preserved to the present
time a knowledge of their vernacular language. In Persia,
most of the Nestorians are indeed able to speak fluently
the rude Tatar (Turkish) dialect used by the Mohammedans
of this province, and those of the mountains are equally
familiar with the language of the Koords. Still, they have
a strong preference for their own tongue, and make it the
constant and only medium of intercourse with each other.
This is the more noticeable, as in modern times, until within
a short period, they had no current literature, and the spoken
dialect was not even reduced to writing. Their manuscript
copies of the Bible and other books were very scarce, and
were carefully hid out of sight, covered with dust and mil-
dew. Very few, if any, except the clergy, aspired to be
readers, and still fewer were able to read with any degree
of intelligence.

The first attempt worthy of record to reduce the Modern
Syriac to writing, was made by Eev. Justin Perkins, a Mis-
sionary of the American Board of Commissioners for For-
eign Missions, at Tabreez, in the winter of 1834-5, in con-
nection with the study of the language, under the instruction
of the Nestorian Bishop Mar Yohannan.

The first attempt to write it in a permanent and useful
form, was made by Dr. Perkins in the construction of school-
cards, in the winter of 1836, after he and Dr. Grant had settled
at Oroomiah. On the 18th of January of that year their first
school was commenced. Says Dr. Perkins: "Seven boys

from the city attended. They all took their stand in a semi-
circle around the manuscript card suspended on the wall,
which Priest Abraham with my assistance had prepared ;
and as they learned their letters and then began to repeat a
sentence of the Lord's prayer, for the first time, with a de-
light and satisfaction, beaming from their faces, equalled
only by the novelty of their employment, I could understand
something of the inspiration of Dr. Chalmers, when he pro-
nounced the Indian boy in the woods, first learning to read, •
to be the sublimest object in the world." — Residence in Persia,
p. 250.

In another connection, Dr. Perkins, speaking of the pre-
paration of the cards for that missionary school, says :
"There was no literary matter for its instruction and ali-
ment, save in the dead, obsolete language. I therefore im-
mediately commenced translating portions of the Scriptures
from the Ancient Syriac copies, by the assistance of some
of the best educated of the native clergy. We first trans-
lated the Lord's prayer. I well remember my own emotions
on that occesion. It seemed like the first handful of corn
to be cast upon the top of the naked mountains ; and the
Nestorian priests who were with me, were themselves inter-
ested above measure to see their spoken language in a writ-
ten form. They would read a line and then break out in
immoderate laughter, so amused were they, and so strange
did it appear to them, to hear the familiar sounds of their
own language read, as well as spoken. We copied this trans-
lation of the Lord's prayer on cards for our classes. Our
copies were few. We therefore hung up the card upon the
wall of the school-room, and a company of children would
assemble around it, at as great a distance from the card as
they could see, and thus they learned to read. We next
translated the ten commandments, and wrote them on cards
in the same way, and then other detached portions of the
Word of God ; and thus continued to prepare reading mat-
ter by the use of the pen, for our increasing number of
schools, until the arrival of our press in 1840. This event
was hailed with the utmost joy by the Nestorians, who had
long been waiting for the press, with an anxiety bordering
on impatience; and it was no less an object of interest and
wonder to the Mohammedans. They too soon urgently
pressed their suit, that we should print books for them also ;
and a very respectable young Meerza sought, with unyield-

ing importunity, a place among the Nestorian apprentices,
that he too might learn to print. The first book which we
printed in the modern language, was a small tract, made
up of passages from the Holy Scriptures. As I carried the
proof-sheets of it from the printing-office into my study for
correction, and laid them upon my table before our transla-
tors, Priests Abraham and Dunkha, they were struck with
mute rapture and astonishment, to see their language in
print : though they themselves had assisted me, a few days
before, in preparing the same matter for the press. As soon
as recovery from their first surprise allowed them utterance,
' It is time to give glory to God,' they each exclaimed, ' that
we behold the commencement of printing books for our peo-
ple ;' a sentiment to which I could give my hearty response."

The first printing in the Nestorian character was an edi-
tion of the four Gospels published by the British and Foreign
Bible Society in 1829, the type being prepared in London
from a manuscript copy of the Gospels obtained from Mar
Yohannan, by the eccentric traveller Dr. Wolff, several years
before, and taken by him to England for that purpose.
This volume is all that has ever been printed in the modern
language of the Nestorians, otherwise than by the agency
of our mission-press, with the exception of one or two small
Papal tracts, published a few years since at Constantinople,
with miserable type prepared under the supervision of the
Jesuits in that city.

Since the arrival of our press in 1840, it has been busily
employed in printing books for the Nestorians, in both their
ancient and modern language, mostly in the latter.

Dr. Perkins has furnished the following list of our more
important publications, arranged nearly in the order in which
they have been issued from the press.

THE PSALMS, as used in the Nestorian churches, with the
Eubrics, in Ancient Syriac. 196 pp. 4to.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE WORD OF GOD, in Modern Syr-
iac. (Extracts from the Bible.) 77 pp. 12mo.
. THE ACTS AND THE EPISTLES, in Ancient Syriac. 8vo.

THE GREAT SALVATION, a tract in Modern Syriac.

SIXTEEN SHORT SERMONS, in Modern Syriac.

A PRESERVATIVE FROM THE SINS AND FOLLIES OF CHILD-
HOOD AND YOUTH, by Dr. Watts, in Modern Syriac.

AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES, in Modern
Syriac. 109 pp. 8vo.

SCRIPTURAL HISTORY OF JOSEPH AND THE GOSPEL OP
JOHN, in Modern Sjriac. 316 pp. 8vo.

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, in Modern Syriac. 192 pp.
12mo.

Tracts on FAITH, EEPENTANCE, THE NEW BIRTH, DRUNK-
ENNESS, and THE SABBATH, by Mr. Stocking, in Modern
Syriac.

THE FAITH OF PROTESTANTS, in both Ancient and Mod-
ern Syriac, in separate volumes. 164 pp. 8vo.

SCRIPTURE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, in Modern Syriac.
139 pp. 8vo.

First HYMN BOOK. 10 pp. 12mo.

THE DAIRYMAN'S DAUGHTER, in Modern Syriac. 136
pp. 8vo.

USEFUL INSTRUCTIONS, in Modern Syriac.

THE FOUR GOSPELS, in Modern Syriac. 637 pp. 8vo.

THE NEW TESTAMENT, in both Ancient and Modern Syr-
iac, the translation being made by Dr. Perkins from the Pe-
shito, with the Greek differences in the margin. 829 pp. 4to.

SCRIPTURE HELP OR MANUAL, in Modern Syriac. 192
pp. 8vo.

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, in Modern Syriac. 712
pp. 8vo.

QUESTIONS ON BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, in Mod-
ern Syriac. 99 pp.

Second SCRIPTURE MANUAL, and a larger HYMN BOOK,
in Modern Syriac. 131 pp. 8vo.

THE SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN, in Modern Syriac.
70 pp. 8vo.

THE YOUNG COTTAGER, in Modern Syriac. 98 pp. 8vo.

Smaller ARITHMETIC, in Modern Syriac. 24 pp. 8vo.

Larger ARITHMETIC, in Modern Syriac. 192 pp. 8vo. By
Mr. Stocking.

A GEOGRAPHY, in Modern Syriac. 302 pp. 8vo. By Dr.
Wright.

THE LORD'S PRAYER, TEN COMMANDMENTS and CATE-
CHISM FOR CHILDREN, in Modern Syriac. 78 pp. 8vo.

A SPELLING BOOK, in Modern Syriac. 64 pp. 8vo.

THE OLD TESTAMENT, in both Ancient and Modern Syriac,
the latter being translated from the Hebrew by Dr. Perkins.
1051 pp. large 4to.

SPELLING BOOK, with SCRIPTURE EEADINGS, in Modern
Syriac. 160 pp. 8vo.

THE RAYS OF LIGHT, a monthly periodical, devoted to
Religion, Education, Science and Miscellanies. Fourth vol-
ume now in progress.

In press, an edition of the NEW TESTAMENT in Modern
Syriac, and BAXTER'S SAINT'S REST.

Ready for the press, SCRIPTURE TRACTS, of the American
Tract Society, and G-REEN PASTURES, an English work, con-
sisting of a text of Scripture, with a practical exposition,
for each day in the year.

Our schools have been gradually increasing in number,
till the present year. We now have about eighty village-
schools and flourishing Male and Female Seminaries. Of
course, the number of intelligent readers is rapidly on the
increase, and the modern language is assuming a permanent
form. It should still, however, be considered as imperfect.
It is difficult to give in a precise manner either its orthogra-
phy, its etymology or its syntax, because the language is not
to-day just what it was yesterday, nor just what it will be
to-morrow. Until the publication of the Old and New Testa-
ments, there was no standard of usage. It was difficult to say
which dialect should have the preference. The same uncer-
tainty in a measure still remains. If we assume that the
dialect which is nearest to Ancient Syriac should be the
standard, this will necessarily be unintelligible to a large
portion of the people. We generally use the language in
our books which is spoken on the plain of Oroomiah, unless
there are obvious reasons for variation in a particular case.

Rev. Mr. Holladay, one of our missionary associates, pre-
pared a very brief, though excellent sketch of the grammar
of the Modern Syriac, about the year 1840. He also aided
much in translating works for the press. His health and
that of his family obliged him in 1845 to leave us for Amer-
ica, where he still resides, near Charlottesville, Va.*

Much time has been bestowed on the preparation of the
following grammar ; although, as it has been written with
indifferent health and amid the pressure of missionary duties
and cares, it has not been subjected to so thorough revision
as it would have been under other circumstances. The
Syriac has been written by Deacon Joseph, our translator,

* Mr. Holladay has kindly consented to superintend the printing of this
grammar. . COMM. OF PUBL.

who has had much experience in labor of this kind, and is
perfectly familiar with the grammar of the Ancient Syriac.

My design has been to trace up the language, as now-
spoken, to the Ancient Syriac, and I presume no reader will
complain of the frequent references made to Hoifman's large
and valuable grammar. As some may find occasionally
Ancient Syriac words written in a manner different from
that to which they are accustomed, it may be well to sug-
gest that the Syriac of the Jacobites, which has generally
been the Syriac of European grammars, differs somewhat
from the Syriac of old Nestorian books. The latter are of
course the standard with us.

It may seem unnecessary to some to link in the Hebrew
with the Modern Syriac, and I have had myself many doubts
about the expediency of doing it. But, considering how
many Hebrew scholars there are in America, who would
take pleasure in glancing over the following pages, and how
few of them are at home in Ancient Syriac, it seemed to me
not inappropriate to adopt the course I have. The refer-
ences to ISTordheimer's Hebrew Grammar certainly add little
to the size of the work, even if they do not at all increase
the interest of the reader.

Every thing serving to develop the Ancient Aramean of
these regions is worthy of investigation. And it has occur-
red to me, as not at all unlikely, that the Nestorians use
many words, and perhaps grammatical forms, in their daily
intercourse, which have never found their way into gram-
mars and lexicons, and yet are very ancient, and owe their
origin to the Aramean, which was once so extensively spo-
ken in Persia and made even the court-language.' — Ezra 4 :

T Q
/, 8.

I at first designed to give in an appendix an outline of
the Jews' language as now spoken in this province. It is
nearly allied to the Modern Syriac, and Jews and Nestorians
can understand each other without great difficulty. But
whether these languages had a common origin, within the
last few centuries, or whether they are only related through
the Ancient Syriac and Ancient Chaldee, we have not yet
the means of determining. The discussion of this subject,
which is necessarily omitted now, may be resumed hereafter.

D. T. STODDAKD.

Oroomiah, Persia, July, 1853.

ORTHOGRAPHY AND ORTHOEPY.

THE ALPHABET.

The letters of the alphabet are the same in number and
bear the same names as in the Ancient Syriac, and generally
have the same power. New forms, however, have been
given to i^, f , A and X, as will appear by the following
table.

Initial

Medial.

Final. Initial.

*
f

-
a

Medial.

Final.

, Before final 2 ;

1 sometimes <

a
a

•>,
x

$ Before final 2?
( sometimes $

The Estrangela is still employed by the Nestorians for the
title-pages of books and other occasional uses.

The letters 2, a. f , £ and a, are never united with the
succeeding letters, cf and o are occasionally written in

* 4 is used in some manuscripts as initial, medial, or final. The same may
be said of 2 : but % can only be used as a final letter, or at the end of a sylla-
ble ; never as an initial letter. ^ and 2 are used indifferently according to the
fancy of the writer. A. L. H.

connection with the next letter : cf with 2 and o ; o with 2,
A, *9, l and X.

3, ^,, a, A, £, X, are susceptible of aspiration as in the
ancient language. A large point above the letter (daghesh
lene of the Hebrew) which is often omitted, especially at the
beginning of words, denotes that the letter is not aspirated
in pronunciation. A similar point below shows that it is
aspirated. It is to be noted, however, that £, unaspirated,
is written without any point. When aspirated, it is writ-
ten 4.

NOTE. — It would not be au easy matter to lay down the rules by
which these letters are aspirated in Modern Syriac. Nor is it neces-
sary to attempt it, as the aspiration is indicated in nearly every case
by the point below the letter. Wherever one of these letters is
unaspirated in a verbal root, it is unaspirated throughout the conju-
gation, and vice versA.

3, when aspirated, has nearly the sound of the English
w, sometimes inclining to v, and can hardly be distinguished
from O. The latter must, however, be regarded as the weaker
consonant. Cases will be mentioned farther on, in which
3 coalesces with the preceding vowel and loses its power as
a consonant.

^, when aspirated, has the sound of gh (the Persian £),
and is perhaps more deeply guttural than A, which seems to
a beginner to resemble it.

i^ has the sound of the English j. Until the last two or

•P

three years, we used it also to express ch. See £.

The aspirated a is not much, if at all, used in the province
of Oroomiah. In the mountains of Koordistan, its proper
sound is that of th in these, but it is said in one or two cases
to have the sound of th in thin.

C7 has a more decided and full pronunciation than the
English h, without approaching in sound to *» (hh). The
latter cannot be distinguished in pronunciation from A.
Their equivalent nearly is found in the German ch (Bach)'.

NOTE. — The Nestorians pronounce **, A, ^,. etc., with much

stress of voice, in consequence of which the sound of their language
is at first unpleasant to an English ear. The Turkish of Northern
Persia in this respect resembles the Syriac, and is very unlike the
cultivated language of Constantinople. Whenever the Turkish is

referred to in the following pages, the reader will understand by it
the rude Tatar dialect of this province, which has not even been re-
duced to writing, and is therefore noted in the Syriac character.

O, used for connecting words and clauses (the Hebrew *l),
is pronounced nearly like oo in hood, but with a more rapid
enunciation.

f or X is equivalent to z in azure, or s in pleasure. These
characters are rarely used.

A, unaspirated, has often the sound of k in kind, as pro-
nounced by Walker, a y being quickly inserted after k.

A has the sound of ch in cherry and rich.

i is sometimes pronounced like !a, when it precedes 3 or
j&, e.g. aJ3U2, a store-room; i Vni fl, to stagger; uk3LlX,
lazy ; sJa&f, to swagger, etc. So in Persian. So in Eng-

// t

lish in the words imbitter, impatient. & is also occasionally
written instead of i, as ^3»fcX, sound being regarded more

than derivation.

X, 2 and .*, are readily confounded by a foreigner in cer-
tain connections, but are at once distinguished by a native.

* *

We may take as an illustration 2x»2, the hand, and 2aJLX, a

* * 4. ' • ''

feast ; or 2i2X, a jig, and H*\r, mud. The difference in these

words may seem slight, but, unless the ear is trained to make
nice distinctions, a foreigner will be often misunderstood,
even if he does not fall into ludicrous blunders.

j| has been used more or less to represent the/ and ph of
other languages, but, as the Nestorians pronounce this sound
with difficulty, and it never occurs in words truly Syriac, we
have for some years past dropped it in our books. i| coa-
lesces with certain vowels, as hereafter stated.

£. — When this letter is used, the syllable fills the mouth,
as it were, more than when JB> is used.

JO. — A very hard k, which can be represented by no anal-
ogy in English.

X, when unaspirated, is equivalent to the English t. ^
is a harder t, and sounded farther back in the mouth, x, if
aspirated, has the sound of th in thick. This aspiration, so
common in the ancient language, is quite lost on the plain
of Oroomiah, but is retained in Koordistan.

VOWELS.
Namet. Notation. Power.

P'tahha 4~ a in hat.

Zkapa a in father.

Zlama (long) - J betw*en f in. e

( and a in Aate

Zlama (short) — t in

R'wahha o o in

R'wasa O oo in »oar.

Hhwasa .» e in me.

NOTE. — The names of — and — in Ancient Syriac grammars are
just the reverse of those here given, but, as it seems more proper to
call — hard, the Nestorians follow the usage noted above.

P'tahha has generally the sound of short and close a. In
the great majority of cases, when a consonant follows it
(excepting 2, Cf, X, and cases specified on pp. 10, 11), which
has a vowel of its own, that consonant is doubled in pro-

nunciation, e.g. ii£, these; 2^A, a wave; &-£,'£*, true;

m •> i i ' j»» »A

where ft, ^ and ft are each doubled.

NOTE 1. — There is no doubt that at least the Eastern Syrians for-
merly used the daghesh forte, though, as now, without any distin-
guishing mark. Compare Hoffman's Grammar of the Ancient Syriac,
§ 17, Annot. 1. Assemann states that in many cases _*_ is followed
by a dagheshed letter, but this is not the usage now, except in

and tX&-», and then with questionable propriety.

NOTE 2. — It is perhaps unnecessary to state that 2, 91 and X, are
letters too weak to receive the daghesh. The usage is the same in
the Hebrew. Unlike the Hebrew, however, the Modern Syriac may

double *» and 9, and does so constantly, e. g. i3M*9, to envy; XM^O,

a i f i

to make alive; pronounced respectively bahh-hhul, mahh-hhee. So

V • 4* *• '

too utatX,. to wallow; 29bd, deaf; pronounced garril, karra.

NOTE 3. — A few words, such as )^AX**, Uonl. ?X?v*» (the

i * i it iii

'' * m '

first syllable) and 23u*3JC, derived from the ancient language, are

exceptions to the above rule. The sound of -j- in these words is like
that of 1-, and the following consonant is not doubled.

P'tahha is lengthened, when followed by 2, Of or ^ as in

* t* '
the second syllable of lAiAio, where -f- is to be pronounced

»» i * i* i i i*

like — . So in 2ftCV3, light; ilXaa, an arm; TUXft, a serf.

Sometimes the sound of -r in a mixed syllable, beside the
cases hereafter specified, nearly approaches that of short u,

e. g. 2aX2, pronounced uthra or utra.

Zkapa has properly the sound of a in father, but, in order
to give uniformity to the spelling of like forms, occasional
deviations have been made from this rule. Thus, we have

$ £ m $

h£QJ&3, I may heal ; »^Cf, I may be ; *&&, I may read or

^ " a u

call, although in the first -*- has nearly the sound of e in met,
in the second, the sound of a in father, and in the third, the
sound of a in ball.

NOTE 1. — It will thus be seen that the Nestorians have what Hoff-
man (§11, 3) properly calls the more elegant pronunciation of-*-.
So far as we know, this vowel is never pronounced by them as long o.

NOTE 2. — It may here be remarked, once for all, that several seri-
ous difficulties are in the way of an orthography which shall per-
fectly represent the sound of each word. Many words, as, for in-

stance, OOT and Jcf, have a different sound from what they had
formerly; and yet, for the sake of etymology, it is considered impor-
tant to retain the original spelling. It is often a matter of much
doubt how far we are permitted to go in defacing the escutcheon of
words, and obliterating all traces of their ancestry. One who had
not fully considered the subject, might often think we were arbitrary,
where good reasons for a variation may be assigned ; e. g. Anc.

aXS. 13X0. Modern 9&9, *pJB.
i

The difficulty is still greater in regard to words which have been
transferred from other languages, the Turkish, the Persian, the
Koordish, and the Arabic. Even if we were thoroughly acquainted
with these languages, as we are not, the words derived from them in
Modern Syriac are often completely disguised, and years pass before

we successfully trace out their origin. Others are more or less cor-
rupted, though not properly made over; and still others retain very
much of their original form and sound. In the latter case, we intend
always to refer to the language from whence they came, to ascertain
the true spelling.

The varieties in dialect present another obstacle not easily sur-
mounted. As familiarity is acquired with the language spoken, in
all the dialects, reasons are often found for changing orthography
which was supposed to be definitely settled.

Long Zlama. — The sound of -,- is not exactly that of long
e, nor of long a, but something between these sounds, ap-
proaching a little nearer to that of e than of o.

/Short Zlama. — This vowel, though generally i, sometimes
approaches in sound to e. When followed by X, its sound

resembles — , e. g. ^ffftVSftt,, hear.

The same rule which has been mentioned for the doubling

of a consonant after -f-, applies also to — . Thus in 13ft, a

bear ; 2AMD, a hoof; JiX, smoke ; the 3, ba and &, are re-

spectively doubled in pronunciation. The fact that the
daghesh must always, as in Hebrew, be preceded by a short
vowel, needs no explanation.

It may be well to state, under this head, that Cf, ** and X
occasionally admit of daghesh forte in the Ancient Syriac,
after a short vowel, but not ft.

Rwahha. — This is long o, but is often undistinguishable in

pronunciation from e, which has the sound of oo in poor,

but at times inclines also to the sound of long o. When -*-

precedes, o should follow ; when -7- precedes, o should
follow.

NOTE 1. — As the Nestorians generally use O and O, especially in

the neighborhood of Mosul, there is no doubt that the former corres-
ponds to T in Hebrew, and the latter to sj.

NOTE 2. — Unlike 1 in Hebrew, O is so far an essential part of the
vowel, that the latter cannot be written without it. The same re-
mark may be made of .» in hhwasa.

NOTE 3. — Hoffman, § 13, 4, speaks of these vowels as sometimes
u, but the Nestorians know no such usage. In the examples he

' $***«4 V ' A

adduces, %od ,%1&**1 ,VOA*« ,^O\,iB etc., the sound is as

• ;

given above.

Hliwdsa. — This is in sound like a very long e in English.
The - has sometimes belonging to it another vowel, in
which case it performs the double office of a consonant (y)

and a fulcrum for hhwasa, e. g. tj****, thought, pronounced
hheyal ; ^»9, of us, pronounced deyan. The word X-2, in

which the etymology is preserved, is sounded thus : it. In
the perfect participle feminine, 1st Class, we have, for ex-

ample, 2frA*a^, braided, pronounced as if written 2'fc^aA,..
And so of similar cases.

NOTE 1. — After — , .» is silent. This mode of spelling, adopted from
the ancient language, has been in a great measure dropped. Thus,

we now write ^X*OC7, you may be, for ^OTL*OCf ;

you may see, for ^X**-*, etc. But ut&OU&3 and some other
words transferred from Ancient Syriac, retain their original form.

NOTE 2. — There is a sheva in common use, as in Hebrew, though
without any distinctive mark. Sometimes there are two attached to

two successive letters, e. g. wOfOJUk93, that in his heart, pro-

< //

nounced cFWlibboo. In a few cases the mark called in Ancient Syriac
^uLc&iO and placed above the line (Hoff. § 19, 1), has been used

for this purpose, but it is now dropped, as it is of no practical use to
ourselves or the natives. The ear soon becomes so trained that it
instinctively gives the sheva where it is called for. No one who has

spoken Syriac two months would think of pronouncing JAXdL, fuel,

yakdana, but, as a matter of course, yetfdana. So iSOJOS^t, ya?-

. i

cobh. Compare the Hebrew Sp^"1 .

The sheva was no doubt employed by the Nestorians of old,
though, so far as we can judge from the disposition of the vowels in
the ancient language, with less frequency than in the modern. Those
grammarians who, according to Hoffman (§ 15, Annot.), wish to class
" inter absurdos" any who speak of a sheva in Ancient Syriac, should
properly themselves be classed there.

MODIFICATION OF V O W E L - S O U N D S.

The letters **, ^, X. £ and .0, and, to a considerable ex-
tent, also d, !0 and a, modify the sound of some of the vow-
els which are connected with them in the same syllable.
The general tendency of these letters is to make the vowels
joined with them somewhat like short u, though this is not
the uniform effect. As it is essential to a correct pronun-
ciation that this subject be understood, some examples will
here be given to illustrate it. The sounds of course cannot
"be perfectly represented in English. Observe that d=a in
hate; d=a in saw; a, without a mark over it, =a in father ;
a=a in hat; ee, at the end of words, = — . In some cases —
may more properly be represented by simple e. e=+.

1. These letters with -J-, uJttOU*, fifty, pronounced likum-

she ; frt^"* \> turtum, to murmur ; ^Ms umman, with us ;

m A. ' ' ^ '

•vV^CttlO, mudtar, a ruler for parallel lines ; ZA&, nilkka, a

whale. Also with bo and a : »Vwn, mumfe, let them cause

i ~ i

to reach ; 'pL*ai9, Huryam, Mary.

2. With -£-, Nax*», hhudrit, thou mayest walk about ;

4 - ff ff 9 m f

£u^9, butna, she may conceive ; ^0>-», ewukh, we are ; i*9£9,

* *• «

Murya, the Lord ; JLV*XO, Jcur'yana, a reader.

These letters very often give -±- the sound of a. Thus
we have ,7^ i'<, hhdtee, he may sin ; i*iy, tdshee, he may con-

ceal ; ,?Sft\S>, dloola, a street ; %&*, sdpee, he may strain ;

i1 -^

^3J9, kdree, he may read ; !*>*, rdma, high.
i1

3. With — , no effect is generally produced.

4. With — , the vowel sound is in most cases u : uVT,^,

hhushle, I went ; t^yVf^; pdlut, he may go out ; 2xtt^, usra,
ten ; ^*»», Musreen, Egypt ; l^Xbl£&, p'kudke, he com-

manded ; Jj»S9ft, rnmlee, he rose ; 2AMOO^V, toomumma, com-
pleted. But X following --, lengthens it into -,-.

5. O and O are affected rarely, if at all.

6. - is in many cases unchanged. When, however, these
letters are followed by + or * coalescing in the preceding

vowel -r (see next section under * -j-), the vowel-sound is
not generally a simple one, as in other cases, but resembles
the sound of ei in height, e. g. Vh*^, teira, a bird ;

fr '

eina, a fountain, an eye ; iJQSuS, Iceisa, a tree. So with

keimat, a price ; Z^»V, teina, mud.
~

FUKTHER MODIFICATION OF SIMPLE VOWELS.

1. 3 -r. — P'tahha followed by 3 has the sound of 5, e. g.
ivSff , zona, time ; IkS^, gora, a husband.

2.o-r. — P'tahha followed by O does not often occur ;

never in our more recent books. But, wherever found, it has

/ i

nearly the sound of o, e. g. ^OJLXON, totishoon, search ye,
now written ^^xVl^X. See - .

3. * -7-. — This has in general the sound of ey in they, e. g.
' ' * * '

eyga, then ; u£*2, eyrie, which of the two ; V*3; bey ta, a

i. 4.' * '

house ; ,7 i»>\, leylee, the night ; lv*X; sheyna, peace. Excep-
,. / i i i

tions, for the sake of etymology, are i5>w2, where, pronoun-
ced eka; *\*^ = lit, there is not; ^-»2 = aJch, as. Vl**lU^,
a capital city, is pronounced nearly peitahht. Compare also
what is said above of M, ^, etc., followed by .*.

4. S& ', . — P'tahha followed by ^ has a sound varying be-

tween ow in now, and o, e. g. u*C7OJt%fc3, b'nowshoo or J'no-

« i» ^ ' ' '

s/too, by himself ; uJ»Tl^i, Nowtale, Naphtali.

5. 3-'-, O-*-. — Zkapa before 9 or O has the sound of o, and
• •

is not distinguishable in the modern from 3 -f , e. g.

o-de, they may do ; wflbStx, o-re, they may enter ;

Yosip, Joseph ; i-ftOf, hoya, she may be ; 2f ObV., goza, a wal-

i* *
nut ; 2&O&, dora, a generation.

6. .» -1-. — Zkapa before - has the sound of ey in ^Aey, and
often does not differ from * -7-, e. g. $X*OCf, weyta, being ;
^&UXO, kreyta, reading. In such cases, .» may also have a
vowel of its own, and be sounded like our y, e. g. %>»<&>

k'seyyatee, covers.

7. 3-,-) O— , ^-r- — Short zlama before 3, O, or J^, has a

•

sound nearly like that of ew in Lewis, e. g. i*3a, honey, not
exactly divsha nor doosha ; Zv3X, straw, not fo'una nor toona;
kA>av*Ao2, ^e ocean; Z*9UAOJ), a Cyrenian ; JQ>OX^ObO,
Cyprus; ^laflbO, quick, etc.

8. * -p. — This has been alluded to in a preceding note.
See under Hhwasa.

9. 4° — If ° is followed by ^, the latter has either no

i i

effect on the syllable, or the sound is nearly that of ui in
ruin, e. g. ^AJL^fta, a winnowing fan, pronounced rooshta
(nearly).

It may be stated as a general rule, that **, X and a, prefer
the vowel -f-, as in the ancient language and the Hebrew.

SOME PECULIARITIES OF 2, Cf, O, .» AND X.

2.. — It has already .been mentioned that 2 quiesces occasion-
ally in -T, and lengthens it. It quiesces far more frequently
in — , as in the final syllable of 2ao^, great, and a multi-
tude of other words. 2 may also quiesce in — , as in the

last syllable of plurals, and in o, -, — . When it follows
the latter, it lengthens it into — .' At times the 2 in such
cases falls out, as in the preterite of verbs of final 2, e. g.

t*Sa9 = uAlM, I poured.
i ,<* i n*

When 2 is preceded by a letter without a vowel, but has
one of its own, it has a tendency to give its vowel-sound to

the preceding letter, and rest in it ; e. g. £*Z3, to be pro-

nounced not b'ennee, but bennee. So 2ofi3 = baha. So in
Hebrew (Nordheimer's Grammar, § 88, 3). Compare also in
regard to 2, Hoff. § 31, 3.

Of. — In the suffix u*C7O, neither of nor .» is sounded. At
the end of words OT is generally quiescent, as in the Hebrew ;
and we often feel at liberty, e. g. in words introduced from
other languages, to substitute 2 for it, as really a better rep-
resentative of the sound. This may account for our writing

the verb CP»-*, 0P^», he is, she is i^*, JjL*.
,< i i ,11 i •

O. — This may be, and is rarely, the initial letter of a verbal
root. It is found often as the middle radical, and sometimes

at the end. Take, for example, ukOJto, to wail; iSOX., to
repent; and *V*, to reprove; in all which cases it retains its

ti \

full consonant power. In OOOf, which is thus written for
etymology's sake, the final o is not sounded, and the word

is to be pronounced as if 2 ft Of.

*. — This letter, when following O, does not flow into the

vowel-sound, but has a sound of its own resembling short
e, e. g. 2x»&Vt, a wall, pronounced gooeda. Compare Hoff.

§ 12, 1, and ^23 and similar words in Hebrew.

X may in certain cases be treated as a quiescent, the Mod-
ern Syriac agreeing in this respect with the Ancient, though
in such cases it affects the vowel-sound, e. g. mVXaoJC, /

heard. Here, too, £t admits a vowel which y cannot take in
Hebrew. So 2>a.Va, doing,

Some letters are otiant in Modern Syriac, being generally,
if not always, those retained for the sake of etymology, e. g.

\,aS>4, etc.

The representation given above of the sounds of the Syr-
iac language differs from that often made in grammars of
the Ancient Syriac, e. g. Hoff. § 12, 3. There is, however,
reason to suppose that the Nestorians understand the pro-
nunciation of their language better than it is possible for
European scholars to understand it. The Ancient and the
Modern Syriac are now pronounced nearly according to the
same rules, and there has probably been no essential change
in these rules, especially in Koordistan, for a thousand years.

TALKANA.

An oblique mark drawn over a letter, not under, as in the
Jacobite Syriac, shows that a letter is not sounded, e. g.

L- */ 0 *•*

^-»f2, pronounced azin; fex»9A), pronounced m'deta. Oc-
casionally, other diacritical marks are used, as in the words
^o, ^to, which are explained in grammars of the ancient
language, •

ACCENT.

It is almost a universal rule, that the primary accent is on
the penult, and the secondary accent on the pre-antepenult.
So strong is the tendency in this direction that a beginner
in English will come and ask for the Pee-po'v-day, meaning
by this the little book called "Peep of Day." It is, however,
to be noted that, in the pronunciation of verbs, the auxiliary

%&GI is considered, in the subjunctive mood, an essential part
of the word, though written separately. Thus, in

he might come, iACf ^X3, I might WASS, the accent is respec-
tively on the syllables 2X and ^A. So too when the pro-
nouns 2-kl, etc., are suffixed, e. g. jLi2 2&L VlS, / will see ;
O^S bOL93 ^, if he seize him ; where the accent is respec-
tively on the syllables 2f and J0>3. Compare >u2 9£o2 of An-

I* " t '

cient Syriac, which takes the accent on 9J». The auxiliaries
jb^, X\OM, etc., do not follow this rule, e. g. »£

I am ashamed, has the accent on the syllable X~ , as if »£•»
were not written.

PUNCTUATION.

Our system of punctuation is imperfect, compared with
that of the English. The only characters we have intro-
duced, which are not found in the Ancient Syriac (Hoff.
§ 23, 1), are the Greek semicolon inverted, as the sign of a
question, the note of exclamation, and the parenthesis.

NESTORIAN MANUSCRIPTS.

Manuscript works among the Nestorians are sometimes
very beautifully written, and the best type can never ex-
ceed, and perhaps not even rival, them in elegance.

ETYMOLOGY.

PRONOUNS.
1. Separate Personal Pronouns.

U2, I (m. and f.). p~i or ui**2, We.

V\*2 or ^tl*2f Thou (m.).

or »^»OTU-2. You.
or U2, Thou (f.).

He>it -i, They.

h* Of, She, it.

NOTE. — It will be observed that there is no distinction of gender
in the second and third persons plural. Not so in the ancient lan-
guage.

These personal pronouns, with the exception of oof,
and ual, are not used in the objective case. And these,

especially the first two, are generally accompanied by the
noun to which they refer. Compare the usage in the An-

cient Syriac with »^i2 and ^2 (Hoff. § 41, 3), and in He-
brew (Nordh. § 8.59, f note).

NOTE. — O07 and h*Cf are sometimes spoken, both in the nominative
and objective cases, as if written »£O2 and ^*2.

2. Demonstrative Pronouns.

These are 2c/2, this (m. and f.), oof, that (m.), Jof, that(f.),
U2, these (m. and f.), and ***2, those (m. and f.).

Remarks.
i
1. It is probable that 111 is a corruption of the ancient

, and t*l2 of »^*Cf, MJ>Of. See, for the distinction made by

i V I'

the Maronites in these words, Hoff. § 41, Ann. 4. It will be remem-
bered that some personal pronouns are also used for demonstratives
in the ancient language.

2. In Tekhoma, the people say iboC7 for this, and 2C7ioOCf for
that. On the plain of Oroomiah, the first of these is used for that,

f *

and the other for that yonder. In Bootan they say Z*&2 for these,

', 1 1

and JLOfOi2 for those. Whenever Bootan is referred to, it may be

i i

be remembered that it is at the western extremity of Koordistan, and
farther removed from us than any other district of the Nestorians.

The plural pronoun X&2 is also sometimes prolonged in Koordis-

'''** •** • «' • * *

tan, by the addition of iOf, 2oV», or A*CV»> into lofri 2OM2 or

2, without a change of signification. 2cV*2 is heard at times

,' H I' t> I

in Oroomiah.

There seems to be a natural tendency in language to make demon-

stratives as emphatic as possible. Compare in Anc. Syriac jAOfOOf,
in Hebrew STTJt, ° &vi6f in Greek, derselbe in German, cet homme la
in French, and this ''ere, that ''ere in vulgar English.

3. It is Avorthy of note, that the ancient feminine

times heard corrupted into w»&2, and that too on the plain of Oroo-

miah. We also sometimes hear u»X2. Both u»32 and wX2 are

' > *t * >

used with masculine as well as feminine nouns. 2 ACT is also used

in such expressions as M- 2 5 Of, it is so (it is this) ; 2 A Of 7VUX3, on
account of this, etc.

4. OOf is pronounced sometimes with the sound of ow in now,

and sometimes, and often er, simply as long o. h*Of is pronounced
sometimes with the sound of ay in aye, and oftener as a in fate.
They have always, however, the sounds of o and a when used as
demonstratives.

3. Relatives.

a is the only relative, and is of both genders and num-
bers. So it is in the ancient language. The use of this rela-
tive in grammatical construction will be explained in the
Syntax.

4. Interrogatives.

These are ^b or u££9, who f (m. and f.) (ancient ^ib) ;

whose ? w&O&B what ? u&*i which of the two ? (m.
i* i it

* i j

and f.) (ancient Zv-»2) ; and Z>B^, ACM; much, or how many ?

as in the ancient language.

NOTE 1. — In one part of the plain of Oroomiah, in Salmas, in Ga-
war, and perhaps other districts, ud& is prononuced -**rr. u»3O£0

' 9 * ' '

is very generally contracted in vulgar usage into 30£0, TLO£9 or

* " ' '

O£0, especially when preceding a noun. ^**T t*L»2, which of them?

I ail

is vulgarly contracted into iminey. We hear also rarely ft2 (m. and
f.) instead of u»i-*2 ; compare the ancient feminine form 29u*2. In

Bootan, for which of the two, they say u4£X*2, which is no doubt a

' '

contraction of **4^9 u&*i.

all

NOTE 2. — h£o in the ancient language is sometimes applied to

', •
things. See Luke 8 : 30, ASait ^0. So in the Hebrew ^ttttj''53 ;

but we find no such usage in Modern Syriac.

NOTE 3. — The ancient >bo, what, is retained in the common idiom

h\*y? qLlKS 2^O, what to thee from us ? i. e. what have we to do

^i // ^^<

with thee ? Of course we may substitute any other suffixes. So too

we have in daily use such expressions as 5^*3 w^ ZoOf >bo, what

to me a house? i. e. of what profit to me ? Z^MwO2 kj^ wOOf ISO
... t, i ^ i i

ZS'XX, what may be to us so many sheep ? In some parts of the moun-
'' " * * -, ',

tains, 2op9 is used to denote what, wdO£9 perhaps = w&2 l*O.

* *

5. Indefinite and Distributive Pronouns.
These are tS*A, any one, every one (vulgar AOA, perhaps
derived from aJ^aV. ^9 or ^o ^A, any one, every one;
J^ tS^, each one. We often hear also iocfa Ao, whomever,
or whatever, you please, literally, any one that may.

NOTE. — It may be hardly necessary to state that j^; as in the
kindred languages, is written defectively, and is to be pronounced kool,

6. Suffix Pronouns.

These are few in number and simple in their form, and
are in general the same for verbs, nouns and prepositions.
The following is a list of them.

a. Personal Pronouns of the Objective Case.
u* * '

, me. k*i-> , (— us.

4* thee(m.). ' , \

** ^ fe\ *^° you.

uA thee (f.).

Cf, wCTO him. », »,

them.

The suffixes ^O and »^Cf are confined to verbs. u>OU» and

' * . ' <•

are used only in Koordistan. ^OOV* is a common suffix in Bootan.

It will be seen that the suffix of the first person singular, having
a vowel, must always be sounded, unlike the corresponding suffix of
the ancient language. The modern differs from the ancient (Hoft'.
§ 42, Annot. 1.) also in having verbal suffixes after the third person

' ' s

plural. Beside ^O , +$9f , we have what is equivalent to a suffix in
the forms given farther on, under the head of Verbs with Suffixes.

6. Possessive Pronouns.

These are the same in form with personal suffixes of the
objective case. Thus, for example, with 5^*3 a house :

My house W.TU3 Our house *^*3 j «*

ii i i ) i

» i ' less frequently.

Thy house (m.) <»OIU3 , ., ,

/( f ; Y our house *£>AOTU9

Thy house (f.) u^U3

His house u*CfO*USI ,

' ) Their house JTU3
Her house Of OIU3

In the same way the suffixes are applied to the plural, e. g.
wZUAZia my houses, ^aV&zia thy houses, etc. When the

noun, as in this case, terminates in a vowel -sound, final 2 is
dropped, to prevent the hiatus which would otherwise occur
in the pronunciation. When the noun terminates in a con-
sonant, no change is made by its reception of the suffixes.

NOTE. — In our books we have often written 07 as a noun-suffix for

. ', •' |L I

3d pers. sing. masc., and 07 for 3d pers. sing, fern., e.g. 07*1*3

-Si. ' •* '

his house, CT*\*3 her house. We now substitute for these, in all

nouns, u»C7O and OfO , in accordance with Oroomiah usage. OV^2 >

• 4* ' ' ' '' "•

OVjkA, etc., retain the other suffixes. 07 and t*O7O are botli used in

•• »

Gawar; the first only in Tekhoma and Tiary. In Nochea and

Teklioma, we find only Of' ; but, on the other hand, this is not used
at all in Gawar. In Tekhoma and Tiary, the suffix t*OV* is the
noun-suffix for 3d pers. plural. In Bootan, ^OOW (m.) and M0%/ (f.).
We, however, employ now only b*' as the noun-suffix of 3d pers.

plural. We have also, in such expressions as ZX&ld cUO3t3.

»' >
dropped the suffix which is employed both in Ancient Syriac and in

Chaldee. (See Jalm's Grammar, § 28.) It is not in accordance with
present usage, and we now substitute 1 for the Of. The expression
2^0 Oh* CP*ft will be referred to in the Syntax.

Emphatic Possessive.

Sometimes the suffix, for the sake of emphasis, is separa-
ted from its noun by a preposition, e. g. **-? JS3 the father
of me (and not of you\ fe&*3 2X3 the father ofthee, etc.

NOTE 1. — Compare iA*9 in Ancient Syriac. This form, which is
always emphatical in the Modern, is by no means uniformly so in
the Ancient Syriac. (Hoff. § 122, 6.)

NOTE 2. — Such forms as .*Sw3 nTl^OA^SO, John 4 : 34, tjjl

, 2 Cor. 5:19, or »O.icT '»ft>*1 ^-? ,^OOV3, Matt. 3 : 1,
cannot properly be admitted in the Modern Syriac. It may, how-

ever, be remarked here, once for all, that in the translation of the Old
Testament from the Hebrew, and of the New Testament from the
Ancient Syriac, idioms have been designedly more or less introduced
which are not in accordance with vulgar usage.

7. Reciprocal Personal Pronouns.

\Lf"*A* 'A*

myself. *J^*X, or ^i\ ourselves.

thyself (m.).

^ao.'i.V yourselves.
thyself (f.).

himself. t t , ,

«J*liX, or »>M^ themselves.
herself.

The word Zii^ soul (Persian o^?-), which is thus con-
nected with the suffixes, corresponds nearty to self in Eng-
lish. It may indeed have two different significations in the

same sentence ; e.g. t*&X£ iii^w?/ own soul, fefX&X^ i*V.

iky oion soul, etc.

i'x^* is also used in connection with the suffixes, but with
a different meaning. If we wish to express the ideas : "by
myself," " by thyself," etc., 1x5^4 receives the suffixes, and
has the preposition 3 prefixed. Thus, >*ac^v3 ly myself,

4* ''*«*'

declined like t*vX» above. Compare the use of £x£$i and
2M&&J3 in the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 127, 1), u;c3 and n«n in
Hebrew (Nordh. § 873), and uiD3, etc. in Chaldee (Jahn §15).

VERBS.

The roots of verbs in the Modern Syriac are in many cases
identical with those of the corresponding verbs in the an-
cient language; but the terminations and inflexions, and the
general scheme of conjugation, are different. Indeed, it is
interesting to observe how the Modern Syriac, like the Mod-
ern Greek, and other languages, has broken up the original
form of the verb, and employed new auxiliaries, both in the

active and passive voices. These changes will be discussed
hereafter. It is sufficient to remark, here, that they have
been so great that it is useless to keep up the old distinc-

tions of jtf 5, 35, etc. ; and that the object will be better
accomplished by classifying the verbs as now used, without
any reference to the scheme of the verb in the ancient lan-
guage.

Without attempting a complete analysis of the modern
verb, it is intended to give the paradigms of those classes
and forms of verbs which commonly occur, both on the
plain of Oroomiah and in the mountains of Koordistan.

As the verb in its simplest form is always found in the
third person singular masculine of the future, this will be
called the root or stem, and the other forms will be derived
from it. For greater convenience, however, we shall begin
with the present indicative, after giving the infinitive and
participles.

The auxiliary and neuter verb, the verb of existence Zoof
to be, is given below, inflected both positively and negatively.

INFINITIVE, iocf, jbcV to be.

Present Participle, X»OOV3) Perfect Participle, Z-»OC7, J

Being. ) Having been

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

I am (m.\ , , ,

4bOt» h\d«jl We are.

Iam(f.).

Thou art (m.).
, " ' »joi"-» ^*V**^ You are.

J*XA- wTli<! Thou art (I1.).
i

DOT He is. > , -

u fc u£ They are.

wOT She is.

Present Tense, negatively.

fat I am not (m.). ,

f f <»O-» X-

Z*2 I am not (f.). •

Thou art not (m.).
, * •' ',

JTLOJ Z-i JTUk2 Thou art not (f.).

OCf He is not

.
wCf She is not

We are not

You are not

They are not

NOTE. — In these forms, .* has a vowel (hhwasa), whenever pre-
ceded by a consonant ; when preceded by a vowel, it receives talkana.
OOf is an exception, as it is followed by Z^-»- Otherwise, the rule
seems to be universal. •' '

When .» has talkana over it, it still comes in for its share in the
pronunciation, changing the character of the vowel which precedes it.

Thus, kjL* Z*2 is pronounced as if written tdOyAl, kdOu VT^-^**

* r * .4 " . * "

as if h.ftnflf \S^?; etc., the .» coalescing with the preceding -*-. (See
previous remarks on the sound of .» -*-.) The auxiliary TLA Of is some-

* x» Is

times written ZOOT, and sometimes Z^OVi and the same remarks
apply to this ^ also.

In some mountain-districts, iV.* is used for Zi^, and inBootan u_i,
through all the conjugation of the verbs. Thus, Zv
or **J> ?^> \><V*1 they are going out ; Zv- Z-^N-ZS or
/Aey arc coming, etc.

Imperfect Tense.

0 Zii I was (m.).

* x ,
oOT ^ 14 I was (f.).

OO4BT

Thouwast(m.). f x
OOOf
Thou wast (f.).

O07 He was.

wOf She was.

We were.

You were.

•

OOOf t*&4 They were.

Imperfect Tense, negatively.

was not(f.).

odor
t

2— t OOf He was not

i) Thou wast

not (m.). * ^ 's- - , ^ '< ^ ,' You were

i " TT > / ^. *^ n ~ . v
^*' *-^^ ** ^*B" *^^^ ^**V «rt*

. » mL not

>>£ j 1 hou wast

, not (f.).

OOOT Z^ "A? They were not
She was not

There is generally an elision in the pronunciation of this
tense, which is so very prevalent that we can hardly call it

a vulgarity. The final 2 of the pronoun JA^, in the first per-
son singular, and the letters OM are not sounded. Thus, we
have the pronunciation anin wa, anan wa. So when any

other word which ends in a vowel precedes »^> • for exam-
ple, iAOT ^ft-» JiioX / was there, is pronounced tdmin wa.

This elision is not confined to the first person singular. In
the second person, the sound is atit wa, atdt wa, and in the
first person plural dhhndnukh wa.

Of the negative form, the first person singular is pro-
nounced (ana) ley in wa, leyan wa; the second person, ley it
wa, ley at wa; and the first person plural, kyukh wa.

Preterite Tense.
ut2tOOT X&4 I was (m. and f.). ^AOCJ tV.u? We were.

Thou wast (m.). , . , , ,

fr^AOJkOOf ^OTX**^ You were.
Thou wast (f.).

2^OOT OOT He was. , f

'' '' ^O^OCI wJ4 They were.

kf * i' •

^OOT wOf She was.
H

Preterite Tense, negatively.

The negative is formed by inserting i-i (not i^) between
the pronoun and the verb, in all the persons and in both
numbers, e. g. i^ftOf !•* OOf Ae was not.

I was be-

NOTE. — "When uOOf is not used as an auxiliary, it has the sig-
nification I became, I was born (cornp. ylvofiai). A similar remark ap-

plies to the perfect and pluperfect tenses, iocf, thus employed, is

i*
conjugated as a verb with final I, having for its present,

I am becoming; and for its imperfect, ^JttO
coming.

Perfect Tense.

uOu X»OCf Jii I have been (m.).

^« '

* x * **

^^* &-OCT W I have been (f.).
i

Thou hast
t been(m.). ^ y

Thou hast •

been(f>>

OOT He has been.

-
wCT She has been.

You have
been.

They have
,^

Perfect Tense, negatively.

£> is to be inserted before hOu, and t»OCf comes last in
,• ^ a i

order. We thus have X»OCf taJ & %il. This is inflected

I ^ H ,<

regularly, except that there is some elision, which has been
spoken of under the Imperfect Tense. Pronounce leyin
weya, etc.

Pluperfect Tense.

Ihad

been(f.).

ZOO) Zocr OOT He had been. , , Th hfld

She had » been.

been.

Pluperfect Tense, negatively.
is to be inserted before hA*, and Z-»OC7 to be placed

•• * , * " x v '

last. We thus have Z-OC7 Zocf tuO^ ZV The direct form is
/ v a ,i

to be pronounced weyin wa, welan wa, weyit wa, wetdt iva, and
the first person plural weyukh wa. The negative form is to
be pronounced leyin wa weya, leyan wa wetd, etc.

NOTE. — In Tekhoma, the people say ioc? i/ftOf, which, corre-
sponds in form nearly to the ancient pluperfect ; but they use it
rather as an imperfect.

Future Tense.

HOOT Vl3 jkj I shall be (in.). , ,

;" , " ^AOT X\3 fi— ^ We shall be.

V; I shall be(f.).

Thou wilt '

Zocf Via OCf He will be. , . ,

t>' f " m btOCT *\3 Mkljl They will be.

Z-OO? Vl3 Jof She will be. '

Future Tense, negatively.
This is wftOf Z^ Zif, inflected as above in the different per-

sons and in both numbers.

NOTE. — As this future in Syriac is rarely, if ever, used to express
determination, but denotes only simple futurity, "shall" is employed
to translate it in the first person, and "will" in the second and third.
/ will be, that is, / am determined to 6e, would be expressed by some

* * " '
intensive, as, e. g. ^ftCf *13 ft Of.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.

I may be (m.).

4) ACT We may be.
I may be (f.).

Thou mayest be (m.).

^jft^OCf You may be.

Thou mayest be (f.). '

He may be. f

w*OOf They may be.
She may be.

NOTE 1. — The pronouns will hereafter be omitted before the dif-
ferent tenses, and in all the paradigms.

NOTE 2. — This tense with Jj> and J^ is often very much clipped

in pronunciation. Thus we hear J0C7 Jj>, Joe/ J^, Z-OC7 Z^t,

,i |i ,i

etc.

Imperfect or Pluperfect Tense.

e or

have been (m.).

,, , ,, ,, OO07 ^*Cf We might be, etc.

Jo Of k*OC7 I might be, etc. (f.).

f JhJOCf Thoumightest, °OCf «f**V*f^ You might be, etc.

JOOT He might, etc. ? x ,

t '' t OOCf uOOf They might be, etc.

i-OOT She might, etc.

IMPEEATIVE MOOD.

i x

k* OOf Be thou (m. and f.). *^£9OCjf Be ye or you.

» i'

General Remarks.

The preceding verb not only may be an auxiliary to other verbs,
but is sometimes an auxiliary to itself, e. g. in the imperfect, signi-
VOL. v. 6

fying I was becoming — i'ocT ^^L» i-b<ft3. So too in the expression
1*O07 iJadf iOCT i!* ^ z/"/te should not be, or i/" Ae had not been,

born.

It may be difficult to account for the precise form of kjOu>,

^ « /

etc. It seems, however, pretty clear that they are made up of O, the
principal letter in ioof , the old verb of existence, or, better, of 6 of

the pronoun OCf , which was used so much in the Anc. Syriac to ex-
press the idea of existence, having the talkana on it (H. §121,2, c.),
and fragments of the personal pronouns. See in this connection a very
interesting statement of the relation of the corresponding pronoun
KS.JI to the corresponding verb Srli in Heb. (N. §647), from which
it seems certain that they had a common origin. It is not so easy
to say whence comes the - which precedes. In Bootan, they use for

the second person plural present ^OiX-OCT. which gives us a *. It

can hardly be doubted that 1*** and ij»-* are really c£»»» and CP*».

f i1 i i , i' i >

As to Z'l->, it is probably a fragment of »_Oi2. Compare the an-
cient *Qtl2 *-*«*0T with the modern Z>-> kt&i. The resemblance in
n i

sound is very striking, and the signification identical.
CLASSES OF VERBS.

There are two great classes of verbs in the Modern Syriac,
which are always distinguished from each other by their
mode of inflection, and sometimes by their general signifi-
cation. Each class embraces several varieties. These vari-
eties might indeed be designated as distinct classes ; but it
is thought best to enumerate only two classes, because the
general resemblance to these leading forms is discoverable
in all the other varieties.

CLASS I. REGULAR VERB.

The first and most numerous class of verbs has almost
invariably but three radical letters, as i^Vffr, tdxB, &UCD,

the verbs which respectively denote "to go out," "to finish,"
and "to support" or "prop." The peculiarity in the mode
of conjugating runs through nearly all the tenses. Verbs
of this class are usually, though by no means uniformly,
intransitive.

Let us take as a model, t0kS , which signifies to finish
(intransitive).

INFINITIVE, flb to finish.
Present Participle,%aa*£a ) Perf. Participle, ,ljBLa..3, ^ ft ,a

Finishing. ) Having finished.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.

I am finishing (m.).

am finishing (f.).

Thou art finishing (m.).

&C l£ 1&3 are

Thou art finishing (f.). * finishing.

He is finishing.

ou • c • \.-
She is finishing.

. * - JjjVdg We are
2JB*&9 I am finishin f.. finishing.

*•' »&*? SBC

The present tense of this class is always formed by prefix-
ing the present participle to the present tense of the verb
of existence, in its several numbers and persons. The pre-
sent participle is formed by prefixing short zlama with 3 to
the first radical, making zkapa the vowel of the second radi-
cal and also of the third, and adding the quiescent 2 to the
third radical.

The present tense of any other regular verb of this class
may be formed by precisely the same process.

NOTE 1. — If the first radical be 3 or ^,the sound of the pre-
formative 3 in the present participle is scarcely heard, though always
written, and in vulgar pronunciation it is entirely omitted. Indeed, in

the rapid enunciation of the people, many other verbs, and especially

$ $
those beginning with £0. drop this 3. Thus we have ;Lj*nX^ft3

anointing, sounded m 'shahha, iThaifrftff becoming meek, sounded
m'kakha, ^X3Lk3 doing, sounded wada, etc.

NOTE 2. — This tense is often vulgarly contracted into prakin, pra-
kan, etc., and the remark applies to any verb of this class.

Imperfect Tense.

- were

* was finish~ ^* ^T finishing.

ing (f.).
Thou wast

. * x ' V" ,*^- A- You were

**^ ' finishing'
— was fin"

" She was fin- °OOr ^^^f finishing.

From the present tense is formed the imperfect, by add-
ing the auxiliary loC7. In the third person singular, £007
takes the place of J^*, i^**, instead of being added to them;
and in the third person plural, dCOT takes the place of fc.

NOTE 1. — The elision spoken of in connection with the imperfect

tense of the verb iOCT to 6e, takes place here also. Thus, the
»'

first person singular masculine is pronounced biprakin wa, or prakin
wa ; the first person feminine, biprakan wa, or prakan wa ; the sec-
ond person masculine, biprakit wa, or prakit wa; the second person
feminine biprakat wa, or prakat wa; and the first person plural,
biprakukh wa, otprakiukh wa.

NOTE 2. — Instead of this form, we occasionally hear i»^OCf

, in which case t*^O07 seems to he equivalent to 2OOT »_9^.
/ i' a

may be thus used with the present participle of many verbs,
but it is not necessary to allude to it again as a regular tense.

Preterite Tense.

I finished (m. and f.). Bx We finished.

Thou finishedst (m.).

You finished.
Thou fiuishedst (f.).

He finished. , ,

>0.\.D X«J They finished.
She finished.

This tense has no preformative letter. A short zlama is
inserted between the second and third radicals, and the fol-
lowing terminations are subjoined: t*\, 1 sing. m. and f. ;

, 2 masc. sing. ; »\\ , 2 fern. sing. ; 2-i , 3 masc. sing. ;

m i

, 3 fern. sing. ; , 1 plural; fc^ft, 2 plural; »
plural.

NOTE 1. — In Bootan, the third person plural (m. and f.) is
u&iflx£ ; and so in all verbs. This usage is not confined to that

" ' i '4

district. We also have sometimes O^Bx£ for ^^fcXDxS^.

NOTE 2. — When the last radical is ft or a. the terminal Jt is
dropped. Thus, from t^rS t° grind, we find the preterite —

not ••A^.^V . fVoiu ajQii to saw, we have the preterite w9

i a « i

When the final radical is ^ , this is not doubled in pronunciation.

Thus, from Ai^J3 to kill, Ave have the preterite uS^d. This
rule applies to the preterite of all verbs of both classes.

Perfect Tense.
&1A4 I have finished (m.). We ]iaye

I have finished (f.).

Thou ha^t finished (m.). fa ^^ You have

Thou hast finished (f.> *
l''ft >\ ^ He has finished.

iLT iA-aJ* Tfiheyuha/e

She has finished. fimshed'

This tense, like the present, is a compound tense, and is
formed by prefixing the perfect participle to the present
tense of the verb of existence, exactly as the present parti-
ciple is prefixed to it to form the present tense.

The perfect participle, in all regular verbs of this class, is
formed by inserting * after the second radical, and adding

1 to the last radical, if masculine, or 2N , if feminine. It
will be noticed that the participle takes 2( in the plural.

Pluperfect Tense.
I had finish-

I had finish- OO^ &* 'V* f(> * finished.

Thou hadst

finished(m.). '• ^ 'S^ " . ^ - M You had

mu_.. u-oJ OOCT ^IU U<-^B finighed>

' She had fin- °OC^ ^f**t finished.

ished.
This tense is formed by adding the auxiliary JJacf to the

respective persons of the perfect tense; JjftCf taking the place
of Z-W^ and 2^ in the singular, and fa* in the plural, as in
the imperfect tense.

NOTE. — In pronunciation, the same elision is made as in the im-
perfect tense. Thus, we have prekin wa, prektan wa, etc.

future Tense.
I shall or will perish (in.). ^3X^ Vl3 We, etc.

I shall or will perish (f.).
Thou, etc. (m.).

You,etc.

Thou, etc. (f.).
/ //

JB±& Via He, etc.

She, etc. u,O jJ^ Vl3 They, etc.

To form this tense in regular verbs of this class, zkapa is
almost universally used with the first radical, and the sec-
ond radical is included in the first syllable; but the third
person singular masculine is an exception, as the first sylla-
ble in this case is a simple syllable, not including the second
radical. The terminations subjoined to the third radical are

; (

^ , 1 masc. ; ^ , 1 fern. ; X , 2 masc. ; »*X , 2 fern. ; the
vowel — between the second and third radicals of 3 sing.
masc.; ^', 1 pi. ; ^>N», 2 pi. ; and «, 3 plural.

NOTE 1. — In some parts of Oroomiah and Koordistan, \X2J is con-
tracted to 3. Instead of A", the termination ^ is often vulgarly
given to the first person plural, making it ^JEJ JL£. Instead of the
termination ^*X«*,we sometimes hear ^OIVO , making the second
person plural ^OJXA«04hS. On the plain of Oroomiah, this person
is in some villages pronounced ^AiX*.DX9, which is probably a
contraction for

NOTE 2. — Instead of the personal pronouns being prefixed to this
tense, we occasionally find them suffixed, thus :

Vl3 1st sing. masc.

t**»2 4U3lS 1X9 1st plural.
a'±& 1X3 1st sing. fern.

XflJtS *X3 2nd sing. masc.
t> a

2nd sing. fern. k*il uh0Jb& Vl3 3rd plural.

We have rarely, if ever, written any of these forms, except for the
first person singular. If »**, as has been assumed, is a fragment of
uhll they, it is often very improperly joined by the ignorant villag-
ers to a verb in the singular, e. g. t*&2 J3'l*& *X3 he will finish.

The pronouns may in the same manner follow other tenses besides
the future. Thus, in the present, we hear 111 *&* }JB±&3 I am
finishing, ^jCXil IXdOu* ]LQ\&3 thou art finishing. The accent
coming before — , lengthens it. Pronounce biprakeyweena. The .» in

uftJ gives the preceding -*- the sound of ey.
*• //

These remarks apply to all verbs. The similarity between the an-
cient and modern language in respect to these forms is worthy of no-
tice. Thus, in the ancient, we have Z^ ^iX or i'i-SZX , i'i^ Z^9 ,

I m '' >' f f

kiu^ MXd, e.tc. The relationship, however, of the ancient to the
' (l

modern language in the inflection of the verb will be discussed far-

ther on.

Second Future Tense.

I shall have
finished (.nO

-OOT 1X3 1st fern.
2nd masc.

2nd fen,. * •** ™f pta*

3rd masc.
/ Iflw^B u*OCf X\3 3rd plural.

5j. A- ^ i-ftCT 1X9 3rd fem. " '
i a

This tense is formed in all verbs by prefixing the first future of the
substantive verb to the perfect participle.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

The Modern Syriac verb, as used in dependent clauses,
resembles sometimes the subjunctive of the Latin, French,
or German, and sometimes that of the English grammarian
Murray ; but for the sake of greater brevity, not to say sim-
plicity, these varieties will be considered together under the
common title of Subjunctive Mood.

The verb assumes the same form in the present tense of
this mood as in the future tense, the auxiliary *to3 being

generally dropped and %&VI being added to form the imper-
fect tense.

Present Tense.

I may finish (m.).

<J3'x3 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc.

»£IUB\3 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc.

»OVS 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

Though this tense is properly used in dependent and hypo-
thetical clauses, by prefixing JA or **l to it, it becomes a

generic present. The particle ZA is used in Salmas and
Oroomiah, while wl is the common prefix in Koordistan.
"We thus have ^O*3 ia / am in the habit of finishing ;
^S»3 i* I am in the habit of going out, etc. This iA or «-»2
is used with all the persons and in both numbers.

On the other hand, 'pLd, derived from the ancient ^^O,
prefixed to this tense makes it a preterite, equivalent to
k&JB*&, e. g. ^O*& 13LB I finished. This is but little used
out of Oroomiah, and is used there for the sake of euphony,
in cases where the regular preterite does not readily take the
suffixes. Thus, CUXiJCO ^3LO I supported him, would be pre-
ferred to d.^2 lAsbUD.

"When Z^ (not Z-*) is prefixed to this tense, it is also a
generic present, or a future, the idea being expressed nega-
tively, e. g. IxjiX, ^flJbS i\ / am not in the habit of finish-
ing quickly, or / shall not finish quickly. These statements
apply to verbs of both classes and all varieties.

NOTE 1. — In telling a story we sometimes hear a native vulgarly
use the form %S almost exclusively, as his "narrative tense." It
seems then to have the force of our English present, " he goes," " he
tells," " he does so and so," and to tlie mind of a Nestorian gives a
sort of vividness to the story.

NOTE 2. — Before verbs whose first radical is 2 or .*, %& has the

^ I1

sound of A with a simple sheva, e. g. ^.2 iA , pronounced Matin.

Second Present.

_OOf I may be finishing (m.). , , , ,

." , £OaJ&9 <%00f 1st plural.

1st fern.

2nd masc. ,,

XaJbAa ^OIUOCT 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc. , ,.

%tt*AS wOOT 3rd plural.

Z-OCT 3rd fern.

This tense is formed by prefixing the auxiliary,
etc., to the present participle.

Imperfect Tense.

ZOOT ^JO XS I might finish (m.).

O'OCT &l'*£ 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc. ,r ^ ,,

OOC7 ^OYLhOaJa 2nd plural.
2nd fem.

3rd masc. » ,

OOCT uhDatS 3rd plural.

3rd fem.
With ZA or k-1 prefixed, this tense denotes a past action

'' ' I A' •* ' * *i

habitually performed, e. g. ISkAV^ iocf kdxa ia Tze was in

the habit of finishing quickly. So too with Z^, the idea being
expressed negatively.

Perfect Tense.

? ft >TbS ^OCf 1st plural.
1st fem. '' '

2nd masc. , . ,

? K .1^0 ^oxVrfOOf 2nd plural.
2nd fem.

ZOOT 3rd masc.

7 ft >\ ^ t* 007 3rd plural.
%,0 ,V^ Z-007 3rd fem.

This is formed by prefixing the auxiliary, fc-ocf, etc. to the
perfect participle.

Pluperfect Tense.

™-ve

!* A-. '

2nd masc. , ,, ' 2d

8»dfem. ^ 00er ** ' °* P*"*

3rd masc. ., ,

xtJLa^ obor «ocr D;;rrdal

fler X^OOf 3rd fern. '' '

This tense is formed by prefixing the auxiliary,
etc. to the perfect participle.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
Finish thou (masc.).

Finish ye.
Finish thou (fern.).

The imperative is formed by inserting o between the sec-
ond and third radicals, and giving the plural its appropriate
termination.

NOTE 1. — Sometimes we have the following imperative : uOOT

XBJ&9 be finishing, and the plural lbj&3 ^ObBOOf; but this
a n |i

is not common.

NOTE 2. — When the middle radical is 9, it is not ordinarily pro-
nounced in the imperative ; e.g. bOOAX, pronounced shook. When
the middle or final radical is O , to avoid the coming together of two

O's, one is omitted in writing, e. g. the imperative of hV^Ji^is kVj^V ;

t ', it *"**»*

of 0X1 it is oVl , etc.

»v . »>

VERB WITH THE NEGATIVE PARTICLE iS OR i^.

Only the first person singular of each tense will be given,
as the other persons can be easily supplied by the learner.
As every verb in the language makes its negative form pre-

cisely like t£x£, the subject need not be alluded to here-
after.

I am not finishing.
ZoCf »_Qw Z-^ I was not finishing.

\ I did not finish.

>A.i 1^ I have not finished.

Z0C7 |ual lik I had not finished.

^ I shall not finish.

i»

I did not finish.

NOTE 1. — For the pronunciation of the imperfect and pluperfect
tenses, see previous remarks on the elision of OM. Thus, the imper-
fect is pronounced leyin wa bipraka, and the pluperfect leyin wa
preka.

NOTE 2. — It will he noticed that the future, in taking the negative,

drops its preformative &3. Sometimes, however, t<Bx£ "•* ^
is used as an emphatic future, e. g. tXtt? 1X3 Z-^O ^^ T13 1\
neither will I come, nor will I eat.

NOTE 3. — The proper negative of ^,0X3 ^3Ld is given above, hut

hOl^ 1^ pLd is allowable.

' 4$

NOTE 4. — The subjunctive takes i^ before its different tenses,
•which are not inverted. Vulgar usage sometimes employs i^ in-

1S, f

stead of £j> with the subjunctive.

NOTE 5. — Though the inversion of the present, imperfect, perfect,
and pluperfect indicative, as a general rule, takes place only with the
particle i\. sometimes the inversion takes place without that parti-

cle. For example, i /?\\<V''1 Vuo^ u»30>aoJJ why are you going
out?

VERBS USED INTERROGATIVELY.

The verb (as in English and French) takes no new forms
in an interrogative sentence ; and the interrogation is known
only by the inflection of the voice or the sign i placed at
the end of the sentence,

PASSIVE VOICE.

This will be most advantageously considered, after we
finish the paradigms of the Active Voice.

VERBS OF THE FIRST CLASS CONJUGATED LIKE

ttk*.

It is to be understood that when a verb is marked "1 or
2," the verb is either of the first or second class, its signifi-
cation remaining unchanged. On the other hand, " 1 and 2"
denotes that the verb is conjugated in both methods, but
with a change of signification.

It is not to be presumed that all the regular verbs of the
first class are given here, or that any of the following lists
are complete. An effort has, however, been made to collect
as many of the verbs in common use as possible.

Although one meaning is placed opposite to each verbal
root, this is by no means a dictionary. Frequently a verb
is used in four or five or more significations. Only one, or
at the most two of these are noted down.

to become lean,
to thrive. 1 and 2.
A3b9 to be scattered. 1 and 2.

dO9O to scatter (seed). 1 or 2.

5 to be or become useless
I or idle. 1 and 2.

to conceive.

< to be pressed (with busi-
\ ness).

to bruise, crush.

to be defloured. 1 and 2.
to diminish (intr.). 1 and 2.

to dry (intr.).
to kneel.

to lighten (flash).

5 to be or become cooked.
) land 2.

to fashion ; mingle.

to braid.

to blaspheme. 1 or 2.
to stack up.
to move (intr.).

f
to circumcise. k9f to buy.

(to laugh. The present is

] x % tA3f to struggle (in fight).

( generally tAw ?-^rti>^f.

to conquer. ^~* to °PPress-

to lose the bark. 1 and 2. \*9 to fil1 (to &e brim)-

to full (cloth). ^?f to look sullen.

to grasp firmly, wring. **ff lo sing-

to steal. *J3f to weave, knit

to snatch. f *f to become ready. 1 and 2.

4 *
to efface, scrape off. ^?* to scratch (as a board)-

t0 S'rip °,ff ^S leaves)' be ^»f to scratch (with the nails).
stripped off. /»

to slip. ^f to rise (as the sun).

to grind (in a hand-mill). , , to mjXj confuse (fc and

^ to shovel off, sweep away v » i mtr.).

(as a river). ^^ to COIlfine) shut up>

to slide. , '' ,

bjArf* to start (with fear).
to draw.

to walk (around).

to sacrifice. 30t>*« to become white.

to seize or hold. 3tS,** to pound, to beat.

to lock, to bar. AJ>^^ to milk.

• //

4. i. *

to thresh. i\y\*« to err.

to lie down, to sleep. ^Ut** to dream.

d to leak (as a roof). 1 or 2. t£i^»*» to change (intr.).

to be seared. 1 and 2. ^il \ *\ £™™ > t0 6SCaPe'
to touch. J3Lj»^< to lock ; to set (as fruit).

to argue. >J.SOU» to bear, to be patient

be or become sour. i*1 > Vi to ask for.

XV> X| to sink down. 1 and 2.
tXtttdL to dip (tr. and intr.).
to drive away,
to beat up (as eggs).

t0and°intrfOWn'etC'

f XTM

to prohibit, keep back.

to wean.

to be deficient.

to embrace.

to dig.

to reap.

to honor, praise.

to spoil (intr.).

to expend. 1 or 2.

to arrange in order.

to scoop out.

to be singed. 1 and 2.

to grin.

to be or become sharp.

to think.

to be worthy.

to thresh, pound up.

to seal.

to be boastful.

to crush, break in pieces,
to grind.

J_^

/ „

to grow fat.

to thrust in.

< to migrate, remove from
( place to place.

to anoint, to paint (as eyes).

to be or become faint
>^j»A to seize by violence.
>iA.Vft to split

to be or become mature.

to sweep.

to prune (vines).
\&A to fold. See iSAk

to be or become hungry.

to deny (as one's religion).

to be or become angry.
9 XSk to thrust through.

to climb.

to be evident

to write.

to tie a knot

to flash.

to put on (clothes).

to be fitting.

to beckon, wink, etc.

to lick.

.y K^ S to Peck up (food) ; to em-
l broider.

to mix (liquids).

to be found. 1 and 2.

to be or become meek.

to pluck.

to rub off skin, to be bald.

to be or become bitter.

to scour, to be polished.
'"*M to anoint
iriJiUO to stretch out.

to tell a parable. 1 or 2.

to bark (as a dog).

to reprove.

to hew.

to vow.

to pine away.

to shy (as a horse).

to abstain from meat, etc.

to sift.

to be or become ashamed.
A V[1 to drop (as water),
to keep,
to pull or root out.

to blow (with the mouth).

to fall.

^.Sa to shake (as clothes).
tSkfci to plant
XdLl to be slender or thin.
&CX& to peck.
i^tti to peck at

to drive (a nail).

to paint 1 or 2.

to skin.

to drain off (tr. and intr.).

to kiss.

to make an onset
a*tU to fall (as leaves).

to trust

to worship.

to fill up (tr. and intr.).

to be or become quiet

)S»X3

»,&&

to plunder.
to redden, blush.
XVJCD to support, prop.
to need.

to become empty. 1 and2.
to Wait

to be or become weary of. . . *d
to be beautiful, land 2.

to reproach.

to deny.

to bolt (as flour).

to scratch, trace.

to suck in.

to comb.

to undo, pull down.

to do.
to pass.
to spin.

See under
to be baptized.
to dwei|

to dig out
to flee.

A &

^i a

to reflect. 1 or 2.
to open out, become flat
to be or become crooked.
j to work" Present^ parti-
( ciple may be .HjujV!^.

to£°out- land2-
to be crookedj deceitfuL

to fight
to exuit

to command. 1 or 2.
to blosgom>

to flee (ag gleep>

to fly.

to tear, wear out
to TOb uge friction>

toburstout, tomake burst.
to cut

p. 63.

XdLi

n" mtr.).
to separate (tr. and intr.).

to rend. 1 or 2.

to stretch (out).

5 *» ^2°r become sorry-

^ to be or become straight
^1 and 2.

to melt (intr.). 1 and 2.
to open.

to wind (tr. and intr.).

to scorch, as food (intr.).
to squat

to be or become mad.

M to string (as peppers).

to receive. 1 or 2.

\J3LB to complain.

. *
a>SlD to bury.

to joint together.

5 to be or become holy.
I 1 and 2.

$ to put on (the outer gar-
\ ment).

'V\n to km.

to gather (grapes),
to turn aside.

to lose tbe bark (as a tree),
1 and 2.

to tremble,
to stone,
to be numb.
M*O9k to be broad.
>^i.i<a> to run.

to have mercy on. I or 2.

to be far.

( to ride. Future some-

• •* •

( times kAt33 P*3 .
^ // • «

to be or become soft,
to kick, stamp.
X03 to dance.

•6

to delineate,
to boil.

to let, let go.
to C0nfuse, to be confused.
3<XX to leap.

to be or become warm.
to spread out
to pluck.

to be crushed, to crush.

. *

•\ »*^M to twist

to pinch.

to be wrinkled or puckered.

to fold. 1 or *

«99J9 to partake of the sacrament AjJt to be dislocated. 1 and 2.
• // "

A *-** to bite. hBLXX to be parboiled. 1 and 2.

^bXO to win ; to overlay. iJL, V\X to break.

// «

MXO to sweep, rake. 1 and 2. M»flJt to overflow (intr.). 1 and 2.

\9
//

to be or become palsied. >fV\X to perish. 1 and 2.
to level. I or 2. t&JiX to perish, be lost 1 and 2.

to be pleasing to. u*^X to spill (intr.). 1 and 2.

to take. *&\ to mould or be mouldy.

^»

^^ to meet'

TL^X to sneeze.
a

i '

JkBX to weigh (tr.).
uk^X to be reformed. 1 and 2.
33 X to crumb up.
^3X to be mended. 1 and 2.
to be buttoned. 1 and 2.

to sag down.

4h9Jt to partake. 1 or 2.
t,D\t to eat out

to transplant 1 or 2.

to be or become silent

to be or become numb.

to break.
" f
>(0>tiX to thrust

" ,
XftX to remember.

to fall down (as a wall).

to be or become thick.
to wither (intr.).
to press out (juice).

NOTE. — Some verbs of four radicals are included in the above
list, as they are in every respect regular, except that the second
radical takes -J- in preference to — (according to the analogy of
the ancient language) in the present participle. Thus we have

.^%*4^riri*T dreaming, ? %v tTi^i^f withering, ^V^^*** press-

i a t, i t. " * ' "

ing out.

CLASS II. REGULAR VERB.

Verbs of the first class are very often intransitive. On
the other hand, the majority of verbs of the second class
are transitive. A number of verbs, which, when conjugated
according to the first class, are intransitive, when conjugated
according to the second class, become transitive. For ex-

ample, >!^\fc , if it conform to the preceding paradigm, de-
notes to go out; but if it conform to the following paradigm,
to bring out or to cause to come out. The same is true of
J39L& : when conjugated as a verb of the second class, it
denotes to finish, in a transitive sense, or to save.

It is, however, to be remarked that a few verbs are used
indifferently as verbs of the first or second class, without
any change of signification. Thus XttL^ , following either
paradigm, is transitive, and means to command. More rarely
a verb is intransitive in either conjugation, as tA\3 to leak,

which is properly of the first class, but used in some dis-
tricts as if of the second class.

Verbs of the second class have regularly three radicals.
A to is prefixed to the root in all its inflections by the peo-
ple of Tiary, Tekhoma, Nochea, and the western slopes of
the Koordish mountains, but is not heard on the plain of
Oroomiah. It has been for a number of years omitted in
our books.

The rules for the formation of compound tenses being the
same in all verbs, it is unnecessary to repeat them. The
two conjugations do not differ in this respect, but in the
form of the infinitive, the participles, the preterite, and the
imperative.

To form the present participle from the root, the first
radical takes -^- when the root has -*• , and -r when the

root has -J-. If -?- is the first vowel, O is inserted after the
the second radical ; and when -f- is the first vowel, * is in-
serted. The third radical takes — with final i. We will
again take hOatS as the model.

INFINITIVE Ooa to save.

Present Participle. Perfect Participle.

saving. X0aa4, 3s-030b£ having saved.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.

I am saving (in.). , i f

*A^ iOOXS 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc. f ,

»^*V^ lO&a 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc. . , ,

ti* XflOXS 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

Imperfect Tense.

OOCf Kjfi XdOX 1st plural.
I was saving (f.). •'

2nd masc. x ^ , , ,

OOCT ^iC JJSOaJ^ 2nd plural.
2nd fern. ''

3rd masc. , • , f

OOCT JJSOaJa 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

The same elision takes place which has been repeatedly
noticed. We are to pronounce parookin wa, etc. Notice
this in the pluperfect.

Preterite Tense.

I saved (m.). kX03a4 1st plural.

^ i a i

2nd masc.

+*•** VOaO^ 2nd plural.
2nd fern. " '

3rd masc.

^ok03&^ 3rd plural.

3rd fern.

// i

This is formed like the corresponding tense in verbs of
the first class, except that o is inserted after the first radical.

Perfect Tense.

« * • A.

>L030h9 I have saved (m.).

44^ Ufto4 1st plural.
1st fern. ' '

2nd masc. ,,

»£"•* 2-OaoS 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc.

£l* UfeOJd 3rd plural.

3^03*4 3rd fern. '' '

n i

The perfect participle is formed by inserting o after the first
radical, and giving the last radical the vowel -*- with final 2 .

NOTE. — In some cases, -JT is inserted between the second and
third radicals, as, for instance, ?V •-**** having envied. This vowel

always appears in the feminine participle.

When the root takes —'— instead of — , the perfect participle,
with scarcely an exception, takes this — between the second and
third radicals, and the same vowel appears also in the future ; as

^V»n*J *\3 / will envy. By inspecting the catalogue of verbs of

this class, it will be seen that this usage is founded on the principles
of euphony. For example, verbs whose second and third radicals are
the same, take this vowel ; and also verbs whose middle radical is O .

If it should be objected that J3OX to repent, and similar verbs, with

radical O, have -*- in the root and — in the perfect participle, it
may replied, that, although -*- is written in accordance with the
rules of the ancient language (Hoff. § 12, 1), the sound is that of

-;-. Thus 90^, tVof.

U II

Pluperfect Tense.

1^8^ ,

O O OT <-flJ Ufa 0£ 1st plural.
1st fern. '' '

2nd masc. , ,.

ObOT ^OIX- XflaOJS 2nd plural.
2nd fern. '' '

3rd masc.

OOOr XOaO^ 3rd plural.
3rd fern. " '

Future Tense.
I will save (m.). ^9X9 ^\3 1st plural.

This is inflected like the corresponding tense of the first
class. Those verbs, however, which have -,'- in the root, or
-- in the perfect participle, have the same vowels here also ;

e. g. 39£0 to return (tr.), cause to turn, has its perfect par-
ticiple 2a?0to, and its future Jfr» *Xia.

Second Future Tense.

1st fern. •' ' 7

2nd masc.

2nd fern.

3rd masc.

X
3rd fern. '' '

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
I may save (m.). AQ\& 1st plural.

This is inflected like the corresponding tense of the first
class, and takes -J-, as well as — -, between the second and
third radicals, whenever the future takes them.

Second Present Tense.

' * ''A ''

A0OX3 uttCf I may be saving (m.).
' "

AAOT 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc. , .

XOOXS ^ftlUftCT 2nd plural,

XBOX3 wlUOOf 2nd fern.

X00X9 JjftCT 3rd masc. , ,

''( , , '' , )LDokS MOOT 3rd plural.

2430X9 J-OCf 3rd fern. '' '

Imperfect Tense.
I might save (in. i. obc/ ^3X9 1st plural.

This is inflected like the corresponding tense of the first
class. Like the present tense, its vowels depend on the
vowels of the future, to which they always conform.

Perfect Tense.

Z0*04 fcOCT 1st plural.
3OS <-»OCT 1st fern. •' '

2nd masc.

Ifl^Oja ^bn-OCf 2nd plural.
2nd fern. '' '

3rd masc.

UOZOA 4-OC7 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

Pluperfect Tense.

1st fern.
2nd masc.
T 2nd fern. "
3rd masc.

oooy MOOT

X^OOT 3rd fern. " '

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
M*\A save thou (m.). *.

'It i °r . * I save ye'

> »id 9^1? save thou (f.). ^OkMLOXS j

It is to be particularly noted that the verbs marked i in
the following table make the plural imperative by simply

adding *jO to the singular. Thus, ^\*»3 envy ye, ^BftV.

answer ye, etc. The second form given above, ,oJ

may be used with other verbs, but is not so common, and
is now omitted in our books. iV*lt^ forms its imperative
plural thus : %j>V'tV^, .

VERBS OF THE SECOND CLASS CONJUGATED LIKE

NOTE. — r, following a verb, shows that it conforms in every re-
spect to >fl^^ ; i, that it takes —'— in the present participle, — in

the perfect participle, etc. Verbs are not repeated in this table
which are used as verbs of either class, without a change of signifi-
cation, and which have been given already in the first table.

to strip off bark, r
to spy out. i
to tempt r
to wallow, i
to be dizzy, t

to cultivate, r
3X3 to scatter (tr.). r

m I

to glean, t
to envy, i
to search, r

\ V) *1 to render vain or idle, r J3LxX,to look, r

to heal, r

to deflour. r
to degrade (tr.). r
to ask a question, r
<?X3 to bless, r

to support, nourish, r
to lie. r
to sear, r

to cook, r

to do skilfully, r

to wrangle, r
to answer, t

to provoke, t
to make ready, r
to help, i

H I

to believe, i
to beget, r

to sell, r
to join, i

to disturb, be disturbed, i

to defile, or become defiled,
"* ^ with milk, etc., during fast, i

• $

f 3f to prepare, r

to incite, r

to become cold, r

to ask after one's health, r

YIX** to renew, i

• *

to rule, r

to wash, i
// i

h^M* to be or make strong, i
** >

to escape, r
to singe, r

to play, r and t
to indulge, i
to bury, r

to drive away, r
to hem ; to brush up. r
9hA to roll up. r

rto carry (away), r
i^* 1 This root is also •^**^ ,

to blot t

to find time ; to supply, r

to return (tr.). i

to love, i

to heat (tr.). i

to find, r

to blacken (tr.). i

to cover, shut r

to bow (tr.). £

to pay a debt i

to teach, r

to smell, i

to nurse, t

^AJBOiO to apply (attention), t
// /

hflUQMa to cause to ascend, r
to cool (tr.). i
to burn (tr.). r
to raise, i
to chisel out t
to cool (tr.). i
to cause to hit. t
to lift up. r
to kindle (tr.). i
to place, r

to raise (the dead), r

>ttL9jtP to empty (tr.). r
>j>iBUfP to ornament, r
to maim, i

to wonder, r

to vex or be vexed, i

to gape, i
to atone, r
to muse, r
to bring out r
Mid to cut out r
to gaze at r
to stretch out. r
to translate, r
S to chew the cud, to digest.

> ""C to be or become sober.
to refine, i

i>T>X to entice, r

«\XX to be or become foolish, i

3 XX to send, r

to long for. i
to praise, r
to strip, despoil, r
to be or become quiet, z
to dislocate, r
to parboil, r

X to perform a burial service.r
to be or become peaceful, i
to make overflow, r

f XX to be acquainted with, i

iiLx }

7 „ /
r . . ' f to be partaker, r and z'

X0 to anticipate, r
to make holy, r
to promise, i
to happen, i
to look, r
to peel, r
to squeeze in. i

to glorify, r

to repent i
>fVi\X to cause to perish, r
to destroy, r
to finish. 7
to sigh, r
to prop, r
to spill, r

ul^X to abandon, r

• j
M^X. to make, r

to button, r

A verb of four radicals may follow this paradigm, e. g.
? to shed tears ; X being regarded as a quiescent. A
few of the above roots beginning with to are really causa-

tives, a weak radical, as. for instance, 2 in the case of ASto ,

// i

having fallen out. The rules for the formation and conju-
gation of causatives will be considered hereafter.

IRREGULAR VERBS OF THE FIRST CLASS.
FIRST VARIETY. FIRST RADICAL i. Root tXftj to eat.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
$Z 3^313 I am eating (m.).
1st fern.
2nd masc.

2nd plural.
2nd fern. ' ''

3rd masc.
" U- iJOZS 3rd plural.

3rd fern. ' ''

• f

The only irregularity here is owing to the 2 . This is
heard but faintly, if at all, and the — is lengthened to — .

Imperfect Tense.

2JBCT ^ J^aiS I was eating (m.). OOCT
. Preterite Tense.

I ate. M>^ We ate.

I •!

Perfect Tense.
have eateru "* "^

The perfect participle, by the aid of which this tense is
formed, is regular ; but the first radical is silent, as well as
in the preterite.

Future Tense.

The future tense is regular, and the imperative also, ex-
cept that in the latter the 2 is not sounded. It is written

v * ' v ' "i

k^Odf eat Ihou, ^jLAAftj. eat ye.

NOTE. — It will be understood, both in regard to this and the fol-
lowing varieties, that those tenses which are not mentioned are per-
fectly regular.

LIST OF VERBS WITH INITIAL 2.

to enter. t-f to go. kULflO to go up.

to say. 9JQ9? to bind. *X0£ to cool (intr.).

n a a

The verbs SO? and 9£9J are entirely regular; i. e. they
conform to the preceding paradigm. The same is true of
Af 4! , except in the future, where \ is for the most part not
sounded (see Hoff. § 27, 4, a), and in the imperative, which
is If in the singular, and *^£a£f in the plural. Compare
the imperative of the same verb in the ancient language,
Af , uAf , etc. In the modern, we often hear <joA^f go

" J. ', L » • ' t ('

thou, just as ^Ut JSf in the ancient, and Tlp"^^! in the He-
brew. This suffix is used with the imperative of but few
verbs; e.g. AvV^, , *±JbJL , ^ax etc. The idiom will be
referred to farther on, when the relation of the modern to
the ancient verb is discussed.

Future Tense of t-Skf?.

I will go (m.).

^>f?^» 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc.

^OIlAf; 1X3 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc.

uj£f{ A3 3rd plural.
3rdfem.

NOTE 1. — With a negative preceding, I is not sounded in com-
mon conversation (e. g. Mtf j i^), and three syllables are reduced
to two.

NOTE 2. — In Bootan, we have the following form of the future,
which is well worthy of a place in our grammar, as it throws light
on the relation of the ancient to the modern language.

tAf I VlS 1 sing. (m. and f.). i*f I Vl3 1st plural.

f i a

2nd masc.

~ x . ^OAoAf ^ I\3 2nd plural.

f j 119 2nd fern.

f t Via 3rd masc. 4.54 "4.

, Af f Vl3 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

NOTE 3. — On the plain of Oroomiah, the verb t&*»!k is generally

4. 5 "

used instead of tJtf jl in all the tenses of the indicative, except the

" s * •

future, and in the imperative. The present tense is ^Ou !?it*«'X3

*• * * X "

(in some villages u&* IX^l'ff ), the preterite »jJt«« , the perfect
^oJZX>~ , and the imperative >3LOb» . This is no doubt the an-

cient *X*»ft to crawl, and, sometimes, to move one'* self. We occa-
sionally hear in the mountains the future bX**3 Via. It would
have been better to write the preterite »j>X^a, and the perf. part.

>L&***3 , had the thing been originally understood. As to the drop-

' • «t * ^i *t •'

ping of ft, compare ,7*\M with the ancient 2£u», »Su«9 , and the

i1 n i

corresponding words in Hebrew.

In regard to 9UQBJ , JtiJtt*} , and AJO} , there is some ques-

tion whether they should stand here, or be classed with the
second variety. If we regard the usage on the plain of
Oroomiah only, it would seem that they ought to be con-
sidered as verbs with medial 2. The present participle
is almost always spoken in this province as if written

;'aJj&3, 3AJM, and ixlfiia, I e. like 2X&9 ; and the
futures are often *iv*XD TL9 , ^flUHD T13, ^tn,6 Ad , i. e. like

^t >H 'fcva. On the other hand, the usage in Koordistan
makes them regular verbs with initial 2 , like t^»a? . The
ancient root of xtti is also xfit)^ . We have therefore pre-
ferred to class them here. It should not be unnoticed that
when .JvJQO Via, etc. are not used in Oroomiah as the fu-
tures of these verbs, we have instead «^>ftu *13 , ^ttta > iia ,

etc.

SECOND VARIETY. MIDDLE RADICAL 2 or •*.

The middle radical in this variety inclines sometimes to
2, and sometimes, especially in Koordistan, to the sound of
* . (See HoflF. § 33, 3, 5.) Nordheimer is probably correct in
saying (§ 397), in regard to such verbs, that the root prop-
erly consists of two strong immutable consonants, in which
the fundamental idea of the verb is contained; and that
between these a weak letter is inserted to complete the usual
form. This falls out often, as will be seen hereafter, in the
causative form, and always in the reduplicated form.

For the sake of uniformity the roots are now all written
with medial 2.

Take for example Jt>LS to

remain.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.

X2$. f x % $ .

Ou* ZX*£» I am remaining (m.). Aft, i ?3t*3J3 We are remaining.
n n ^ a

This is regular, if we consider * the middle radical.

Preterite Tense.
I remained (m. and i'.). >\3C^ We remained.

Whether the second radical here be called 2 or * , it is not
at all sounded, and instead of uS>af>^ or kAjtJ^, we write

Perfect Tense.
I have remained (m.). fijbu ?.X*^ We have remained.

The participle, which would regularly be 3JJ*»^ or
is contracted into >Usu£, the feminine of which is 5j

I w

Future Tense.

^•tfc3 Via I shall remain (m.). f f

" , . <t>.fl A3 1st plural.

^t*£ Zia 1st fem.

V\xj£ Via 2nd masc. ,

^OTUX*^ Via 2nd plural.
2nd fem. '

3rd masc. , «

uti^ Z13 3rd plural.
3rd fem.

The vowel — here forms a diphthong with the following
* , excepting in the third singular masculine.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.
AAS remain thou. ^OJCJXa remain ye.

Here the middle radical falls out, and we write as above,
instead of tXjfli^ or

VERBS FOLLOWING THE ANALOGY OF

to make water. faJU* to sew.

* ~ i

4h>L» to curry (a horse),
to judge. / " f

*&\+* to he or become hot
to make fine or small. "

. . * • kS2*» to hathe (of females).

3 f Sft to return. »

to look.

to tread.

to venture.
9£f to increase. «

a2f to swell. aia to invite.

to scratch.

to measure.

to be or become black.

to bow.

to be alienated.

to be paid (an account).

to curse,
to blame,
to make dough.

to suck (the breast).
to die.

M»}Jl to rest
<
to nod.

to sting, to bite.

to be or become old.
to ordain.

to weed.

to be or become narrow.

to be or become cool,
to lose the savor.

to dawn.

t° hunt or fish.
to fast.

to drain off (intr.).
to listen to, to obey.

to fade (as grass).

to rise. (Imp. ^DObO .)
a i

M^O to bruise or become bruised.

• £

3X0 to chisel out.
X.LO to hit

,.*
>»f a to be high, to rise.

to sprinkle.
to spit

to go down (as a swelling).
to rub.
to long for.

to kindle-

to fasten ^ eyeg>

to finish (tr. and intr.).
to come to one's self.

a^> is almost always on the plain of Oroomiah pro-
nounced in the present as if written fcl*3. In some dis-
tricts it is regular.

to be worth, as spoken, is quite anomalous. The
present participle is Z*3t^3; the preterite, »V*t^; the per-
fect participle, l*f\j ; the future, t^3\ *X\a , ^»n^ 'ha ; the

imperative, tSojL.

• / '

has its future often, perhaps generally, irregular:
. In the third person singular masculine, it has
aX* *\3. Its present participle is £5uS.

hO2a has its present participle J-daia, and, were it not for
its etymology, might be classed with verbs with initial 2 . Its
future is also sometimes h

VEEBS WITH MEDIAL X.

Under this variety may properly come verbs with medial X .
They differ somewhat, but not essentially, from the preced-
ing. Take, for example, t*^*\i to thrust in. The present
participle is j^>Vi\,*t (a) or 3e^\i*1 (£>). The preterite is
^£j»^^r ; the future, ^>*ASy ; the imperative, gfti^, .
Some of these verbs have two forms of the present participle,
marked (a & Z>), some only one. In Koordistan, the future
is not «*jj£3 T13 , but

Like ^>V, , inflect

a to sweat (a & 5). 9^3 to hew (a & b). i^Xa to tremble (&).
* HI, a

to taste (a & b). ^&JkA to shut (a). tXXa to rouse (b).
tobear(«&i). JQX^ \ *[%$** ±±* to cough (a & b).
to fold (a). *** to darn(a).

THIRD VARIETT.

This variety is characterized by the transposition of * ,
which is sometimes the first and sometimes the second
radical.

Example, i?VV> to kam.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
hdOu V£u^9 I am learning (in.). <jO-» >Lau>J>S We are learning.

It will be seen that this tense is perfectly regular, except
that - becomes the second, instead of the first, radical.

Preterite Tense.

»j>jSA>.T I learned (m.). AAjt.^ We learned.

i a ^ i a

Here - becomes again the first radical, and is silent.

Perfect Tense.

I have learned (m.). , ,

^Du ,7ft, >V . We have learned.

I have learned (f.).
i

The only irregularity is that the first - is not sounded.
Future Tense.

>AV,» Vl3 I shall learn (mA <jVVi ^3 We shall learn.
^ a a ^> a

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

Learn thou. ^OJOJk Learn ye.

It will be seen that the ^ is not sounded here.

NOTE. — In some villages, and perhaps districts, the future is spoken

like the future of verbs with medial 2 or .» : thus, h^fji nSt , etc.

^ « «

If this were generally the case, we should with propriety call this

one of that class of verbs, its root being ^?^ , its present partici-
ple, preterite, and perfect participle, being written like the correspond-
ing forms of tXZ^ . Indeed, there is no special objection to writing
them so now, and considering the future irregular, as generally spo-

ken. We should then have the preterite tuVaul , and the perfect

k V "

participle £au^. These remarks apply also to the verbs which

follow.

to bring forth (young). ^X* to lengthen or be long,

to hasten. *XX* to inherit

to be distressed. £ITL» to sit

to burn.

FOURTH VARIETY. THIRD RADICAL 2.
Example, Ja» to pour.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

-*•* '' ' .*•*

2-»99t9 I am pouring (m.). <«OM >L»3X9 We are pouring.
i> * a ' a

This tense is regular, with the exception that, two alephs

** 4m

coming together, as in 22a&9, according to the analogy of
the ancient language, 2 is changed into .. .

Preterite Tense.
u^ft9 I poured (m. and f.). t^3A We poured.

I !>' V I l>

The radical 2, when it becomes a medial instead of a final
letter, as in this tense, ought, according to the analogy of

the ancient language (see Hoff., paradigm of J^^), to be
changed into *. This, however, is not the case. The 2
serves merely to lengthen the preceding — into — , and,
being itself not heard, is not written. Thus, instead of

we have uAaa .

i f

Perfect Tense.

''*

I have poured (m.).

4^Ota* X*S? We have poured.
I have poured (f.). •' "'

Instead of the regular perfect participle, which would be
, the first and second radicals take — and form one
syllable, the 2 being changed into * , as in the present par-
ticiple.

Future Tense.

* '' L-
»^? *X3 I will pour (m.). m, s

<oa iXfl We will pour.
^»39 Xia I will pour (f.).

The first syllable of this tense, in the masculine singular
and the plural, is simple, not including the second radical ;
and the third radical 2 is dropped, except in the third per-

• f

son singular masculine, 2aa , where it appears as the final
letter. In the feminine, 2 is changed into - .

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

This is quite irregular, making hBX& the standard ; but
in the singular it is exactly like the ancient. In the singu-
lar, 2 becomes - ; and in the plural, it is dropped:

* I m

u*39 Pour thou. *^£B3ft Pour ye.

VERBS FOLLOWING THE ANALOGY OF

As a number of these verbs are both of the first and sec-
ond class, they are noted here just as in the table of regular
verbs of the first class.

29J9 to rave, talk wildly. JoA^ to vomit.

"i* i1

,? V*1 to weep. J^V. to flow (out).

i1 i1 t,

^3towear(out)(tr.andintr.). , c to be or become pure. 1

*7- I and 2.
to build, to count ,

to resemble. 1 and 2.

to create.

IflCT to become.
to foam up. 1 and 2. '' f

i*0 to be pleasant to.
to beg, be a beggar.

< to

to be or become naked. ^ iQ crack (ag glasg) (i

£111 u &+ |i i

to lean (down). llf to commit adultery.

?
iiio

to rejoice.

to see.

to sin.

to be or become sweet

to keep (intr.). 1 and 2.

to be supported (by).

to incubate.

to go to stool

to broil (intr.). 1 and 2.
to sleep.

to drive (an animal).
Z&^fe to be or become hid. land 2. >' ^

»' «. m.

to be seared. 1 and 2.
to stop.

to go out (as fire).

4. 5 to be or become covered.
I land 2.

to be or become short

_,£ $ to be or become covered.
t I land.2.

?SLT to lap up.

to devour greedily,
to lap (reg.).'

to strike,
to arrive.

to fill (tr. and intr.).

same as ivS , to count
i1

to wash (clothes).
to be able.
to wipe.

to leap.
to butt
to forget.

to bathe.

to dart

to be or become blind (reg.).

to hate.

to dip out (as water). 1 and 2.

to be or become bad.

to be difficult 1 and 2.
to rain. 1 and 2.

to search after.

to separate (inb-.). 1 and 2.

to be delivered. 1 aad 2.

to burst out

to be lukewarm.

to be or become broad.

to descend. 1 and 2. ioi to be or become drunk.

,
J.

to pour out, run out.

to rend. JL^a \ to be °r become loose-

^T £ and 2.

• '
to gather (tr. and intr.). iSUt to be like. 1 and 2.

to be or become hard. ?ftt to be spread. 1 and 2.

to parch (as corn) (intr.). jVj- to
1 and 2. ,!*'

to scorch (intr.). Zj>X to be or become quiet

to gain. ZvX to faint 1 and 2.

' become loose'

to gripe.

to drink.

(bread).

to call, to read. v

Z-»X to suspend.
•>* 5 t° be or become thick or •'

hard- J»X to repeat. 1 and 2.

to be or become weary. ifX to stick (intr.). 1 and 2.

to be pleased with. ?AX to be or become wet

Notes on the Preceding List.

is quite irregular, and, were it not for its derivation, might

perhaps better be written 2cU> . The present participle is i-OU3 ;

* »' » x «

the preterite, wJ^OU ; the perfect participle, X»OJA ; and the future,

The future feminine of this verb is either t^V. *X3 or

,i it. ,- i i'
all of which have -'- in the root.

. This is sometimes, though vulgarly, pronounced in the
present JM*£&3 , and in the preterite t>\>*» , as if from ^ilSfl

to suck. The future, or rather the present subjunctive, with iA pre-
ceding (^£&O ZA ), is generally pronounced kamsin.

Those of the preceding verbs which have medial A, make their

perfect participle irregularly, as X*O*d from 7.0>id , except

i i»

the peculiarities of which were noted in the first paradigm.

FIFTH VARIETY. THIRD RADICAL X.
Root \*OA to hear.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
I am hearing (in.). {tOw ?»V>>3t3 We are hearing,

The present participle is only irregular in this, that the
third radical, being a quiescent, coalesces with the preced-
ing vowel, and * is then inserted, which takes the final 1 '.
We, however, often hear >V^ftS3, and the infinitive ^aaXj>,
which should not be considered a vulgarity, as it is nearer
the ancient language than the ordinary form.

* Preterite Tense.
>AS.»X I beard (m. and f.). \S.«AT We heard.

I H ^ I H

Perfect Tense.

,? > VfHLX I have heard (m.).

^)0h* Z*^OkX We have heard.
I have heard (f.).

The perfect participle takes — as the vowel of the first
syllable, which includes the second radical. The X is not
sounded, and the last syllable is 'jL.

Future Tense.

Afrit Via I shall hear (m.).

AJaflOL TL3 We shall hear,
^Vint 119 I shall hear (f.).

The peculiarity of the future consists in this, that the
second radical is pronounced as if doubled, the first & be-
longing to the first syllable and the second to the second
syllable. The X affects the adjacent vowels, but is not
sounded separately. This peculiarity is not found through-
out Koordistan.

IMPERATIVE MOOD.

< .
Hear thou. »^MlXSflLX Hear ye.

Like kikMlX , conjugate

to bore (a hole). JkJXl to bubble up.

to swallow.

to be satiated.

to assemble (intr.). land 2. . ^
1,1 tJ*J>aj to step, march.

to shave. L

bV.BLa to crack (mtr.).
// /

• it

to fear. tV'XS to recompense.

a i

to sow. ,

Wk9k* to dye.

"5 • '

to ferment. . -

A\Lff to break off (tr. and intr.).

to sink (intr.). 1 and 2.

to adhere to.

to be sick. Of four radi- « >
cals but regular, except ^^X to make a breach.
m the root. // ,

Notes on the Preceding List.

in the future feminine follows the paradigm of the fourth
variety, thus : ^.?f "3 , ^>^?f "3 . The masculine has not the
peculiarity of sound of w^MLX . All the preceding verbs except
AjJI , and even this in some districts of Koordistan, may in the
same way take + in the future feminine.

VOL. T. 10

The perfect participles of >VJU and A3UD have sometimes been
written 2*^904 and 3LjA*30JD , to express more exactly the sound ;

but there is not sufficient reason for this deviation.

Some of these verbs with final X are both of the first and second
class, and some of the first class only, as noted above.

VERBS OF THE FIRST CLASS DOUBLY IRREGULAR.

One who has made himself familiar with regular verbs of
the first class, and the different varieties already given, will
have little difficulty in learning the conjugation of those
verbs which are doubly irregular.

Some of these have both initial and final 2 .

• • '*

Root * 3J. to curdle.

Present Participle. u2 Preterite,

,.
, 2-»32 Perfect Participle. . ". " V Future.

eft) to)

/• Imperative.

•' ^— £ • ' 4._

The future is sometimes w*a «3 masc., M» *US fem.
\i i a ^ i a

^4v? to come, is inflected in the same way, except that the
imperative is ^X in the singular, and «^9N in the plural.
We also occasionally hear <?oA 2x for the imperative sin-
gular. The ancient language has the same imperative, the
initial 2 being dropped.

In Salmas, Gawar, and perhaps other districts, the root of
this word is corrupted into 2-*2 : present participle i**A3 ,
preterite uJkA, perfect participle %& or I*a2, imperative

• . ' »* ' tf

UA . In Tiary, & is substituted for X throughout the con-

jugation: we thus have iliiS, wJkXJ, etc. Indeed, the

'''''.
substitution of & is not confined to this word : e. g.

a house, for #fc*S . Moreover, in some places we hear

as the perfect participle, which is quite as near as any form

to the ancient.

Some verbs have initial * and final 2 .

Take for example ZiflL to swear.

f f " f Present Participle. — V^*V Preterite.
Perfect Participle.

> Imperative.

Thus conjugate ij« to lament, and iL* to 5«&e. The pres-
ent participle of the former is like the first form given, i. e.
&*S>*f . that of the latter is like either the first or the second
form, i. e. It+^y or J*J^J3. In some parts of Koordis-
tan, 2do2 and X&? are the roots, instead of ^Ou and
Compare ZB^ and 2-** in the Ancient Syriac.

Somewhat different is the root £t!X* to know.

Present Participle. »J>^X< Preterite.

Per/ecf Participle. * , " {. Future.

u»
, ' > Imperative.

*-£*H-)
NOTE. — The 3 of the future is pronounced as if double (see the

future of ki*SftX), and in Oroomiah is almost hardened into Xr.

t "

Many of the Nestorians lazily pronounce ^-X* fc-aOJ» what do I

know, or how do I know ? mood-yan, there being little, if any, dif-
ference, whether the speaker is a man or a woman. This tense is
also habitually shortened in other connections by some of the people.

The verb i*.* to live, is perhaps more regular in the mod-
ern than in the ancient language (Hoff. § 76, Ann. 1), but
has some peculiarities. It is thus inflected :

Present Participle.

Perfect Participle.

UM» ]

Imperative.

$ i

Like the preceding, inflect 1+fB to make a fence; 2*0 to be

set on edge (as the teeth) ; the latter regular, except the -',-.
The verb )V^i to search after, has been generally written
in accordance with the usage in Koordistan, and is inflected
as follows :

Present Participle. »S>S>V, Preterite.

i a '

Perfect Participle. " Future. -

> Imperative.

This, however, is very unlike the usage in Oroomiah.
As here spoken, it is an anomalous verb of the second
class, and is thus inflected : present participle ^flA^, (or
r) ; preterite »SftS»fty,; perf. participle >?i»S>fl>V^ ,

future »-&6jL ^Cia , ^ftSiVb, Via ; imperative

There are a few verbs of four radicals, besides those enu-
merated with regular verbs, which in general conform to
the verbs of the first class.

Take for example X»CT^ to thirst.
•' -T

Present Participle. u^Cf^ Preterite.

Perfect Participle. " \ Future.

}

> Imperative.

x » x 4*

Like 2-»Cffr*, inflect 2-*cj^ to /to;me.
i> -* i' »

As another example take i*i*3 to ms/L

.' i

i
Present Participle. u»jt^h9 Preterite.

Perfect Participle. ", ', " Future.

v Imperative.
)

Thus inflect Z*^J< to ^^«^; ^*^*^ to become smooth, Z*^5o to

•• '* * i1 / »» i1 »

churn, i*Xa to graze, and Z*^Jt to plaster.
i' i i' i

In regard to i*^9 , it may be remarked that, while the
present participle, as used in Koordistan, conforms to the
preceding paradigm, on the plain of Oroomiah we generally
hear it thus :

As another example we may take 2-»2 to be or become

i> >»
iveary.

Present Participle. tr>S?V^ Preterite.

i ,< t,

^O\a)

, X*2-V. Perfect Participle. " '* "[Future.

' * Ja

v <

> Imperative.

The root *A3of-» to gwe, like its predecessor *30%* in the
Ancient Syriac (HofF. § 73, Ann. 4, and § 80), is singularly
irregular. Being in constant use, it should, however, be
made very familiar.

Present Participle. uuk3cV* Preterite.

Perfect Participle. ", ^ , " \ Future.

', V Imperative.

It should be remarked that the perfect participle resem-
bles the perfect participles of the second class rather than
those of the first, and the preterite is often pronounced as

if written >*j>3gfrOu. In some districts the preterite is

IRREGULAR VERBS OF THE SECOND CLASS.
FIRST VARIETY. FOUR RADICALS.

Verbs of four radicals are far more common in the Mod-
ern Syriac than in the Ancient or the Hebrew. Many of
these, however, are produced by a reduplication of biliteral
or triliteral roots, and are exceedingly expressive. The idea

is often that of repetition, as in iM^»V^ to bruise in pieces,
to trample, tX&Utto to grope, X^xS to whirl,

to creep, and numerous others. Still ofteuer, per-
haps, the idea is that of repeated sound, as in acfSOT to roar
ivith laughter, AoAo to tya^, X«*XM to snore, k&JB>&JQ to
cluck.

The second radical is included in the first syllable of the
root, as well as of all its inflections.

As an example, take /tfttocf to speak.

INDICATIVE MOOD.
Present Tense.

1st masculine. , <'• "j •• :

*flJ 2*0ft*90r 1st plural.
1st fern. •' ' '

2nd masc. , ^ (

»^*\^ 2£BO4bOC7 2nd plural.
2nd fern. •' '

3rd masc. f x ,

'* ' Z&* >LS0Att90T 3rd plural.

ZMOttOCT 3rd fern.

The present participle has -'- as the vowel of the first
syllable, with its corresponding A in the second.

Preterite.

ti
I spoke. kJk^94b9OC7 We spoke.

This differs from >*J>.daoJ^ only in having one consonant
more in the first syllable, rendering it a mixed syllable.
, Perfect.

w iJDtoDOC7 1 have spoken (m.). , x

^OM jMAiDOOf We have spoken,

I have spoken (f.).
/< »

Future.

w» te8 OT A3 I shall speak (m.). ^Ott90T A3 We shall speak.
^ a a i a ^ // » «

Imperative.
• ii

Speak thou. ^O£0£0CT Speak ye.

to be bashful.

* f 3* to become cheap.

* // i

to delay (tr. and intr.).
n i

L jLi ' .
A.3A.3 to creep.

** " * '

^ to enlighten, to become

i light.

to prick.

, inflect
i

>dJL£kX to foam up.

//• ;

>TxV to be leprous.
^ a i

^TtA/YA to growl.
n i

JQ3kX9kV. to grow.
*

to whiz.
to

to enlarse or

larged.

^V to grow fat and be antic.

". ', \j*t»S*<i S to make to wallow, to

>jJ3Lj>*1 to confuse or be confused. •*(. wallow.

to twinkle.

iViift ** to dazzle or be dazzled.

^ // i

9b£&3 to crown.
// i

m j

ktk9LbL3 to bubble up.

to scatter (tr. and intr.).

to roar.

to assail.

to stir up.

to make bud, to bud.

to tumble (tr. and intr.).
to hum, coo.
to abhor (with t£9 ).
to rust (tr. and intr.).

to torment or be tor-
mented.

, C to make to sing (as quin-
tXAJUkx ine does a sick man's
" ' ( head), to sing.

$ to be two-sided, ride
I tlie fence.

to make trot, to trot.

^ to thin out, become
£ sparse.

to shelter, to find shelter.
to make or be bloody.
to make fine or small.
to wound or be wounded.

to pine away.

9 Odd to rock (tr. and intr.).
a "

L^li $ to make a clatter (of
;, -, \ words).

^B3A to apply (remedies).

< *'

kMdSI to become late.
« ' "

to demolish,
to neigh.

to laugh aloud.
a i

f Of O to buzz,
to wail.

to whisper (as the wind).

• "• ' \.--<

3 A3 6 to have a diarrhea.

i
JCPOJOO to make whine, to whine.

V M! S to make subject, become

k^^2J0 < i •

vTV " ^ subject.
V il < to litter, be littered (as a
^",T» I room, a field, etc.).

to become pale.

to make tinkle, to tinkle.

to tear off, be torn off.

to ring (tr. and intr.).

to swagger.

to batter.

to strut.

to breathe hard.

to make faint, be faint.

to push.

to clasp.

t£f XM to push,
to gnaw.

$ to make to gnash, to
£ gnash.

to snore.

to reckon.

$ to make to rattle, to
) rattle.

to defile ceremonially or
be defiled.

h9>f to make mighty, be mighty.
^// i

*33f to make yellow, be yellow.

. . •

3f 3f to bray.
H i

to injure,become injured.

( to wash away, be wash-
\ ed away.

^ to excite fever, have
\ fever.

to crush or be crushed.
•VS'Sy to delay (tr, and intr.).

(\l\i to hum.

d V d V f to flicker or make to
^>M\i flicker.

to murmur.

to move (tr. and intr.).

to make heavy, be heavy.

L ( to sputter, to make sput-
//T, it, (• ter.

.^1 j to shiver in pieces (tr.
7**^ 1 and intr.).

to arm, to be armed.

^ j to tear in pieces, be torn
1 in pieces.

to throw.

Y**^ to parboil, be parboiled. ^ I? to gnaw.

to let down, to sink down.
•
to tear, be torn.

to chink (intr.).

to swi"g (tr> and intr')-
to roll (tr. and intr.).

to toss about

to tingle (as the ear).

to tear (tr. and intr.).

to clap.

to defile, be defiled.

to rattle (in speech).

to scream.

to have mercy.

r^of^gir*6

to wither (tr. and intr.).

to gather up.

5 to wrap in a vail, to wrap
] one's self in a vail.

to scare away.

S* •»>« >i ^ to crack open (as the
„ , 1 earth).

to make glitter, to glitter.

to snufT around.

to speak.

lo make lame, be lame.

to make appearj to appear.
to abstain from food.
to make glitter, to glitter.
to freeze (tr. and intr.).

i ^ to make gprout, to sprout.
\/T> »

<3SaJk>3 to take a fine.
^77»T

to mock.

to forbear, be reluctant.

to blister.

to borrow or lend on usury.

„ ,

\ffi| A.%* to be lazy.
a i

to preach.

to make pant, to pant

XC. to constrain.

to make green, to green.

to make P°or' be P°°r'
to rest (tr. and intr.).

t0 reProve'
to fix a price.

t0 build*

i to give one a start (on a

I journey).

to listen*

to be or become hushed. biOu>X to make cloudy, be cloudy.

to cry. wjJBLX to make wise, be wise.

^ H i

to wrangle. t^99bX |

* n i *

5 to cause chills, to have
I chills.

to make bold, be bold.

to defile.

to miscarry.

to arrange in order.

to sprinkle.

to growl.

to make ancient, be an-
cient

to whisper.
to feel after.

Xx, <j j to make stagger, to stag-
. ( ger.

to laugh out

( to lay waste, become

to proclaim the gospel.

j to make a Mohammedan
\ or become one.

to grope (after).
to whistle.

to make to sob, to sob.
to groan,
to be a stranger,
to hesitate.

| to reconcile, become re-
1 conciled.

to visit.

( waste.
to beseech.

to undo, destroy.

to whirl (tr. and intr.).

to crumb, be crumbed.

, A

•< maKe to escape, to

\ escape.

to twist (tr. and intr.).
to

to gaze.

to pour or flow out.

to make to smart, to
smart.

A , ,,.

>>> g^ \ to come down (from

, ( f

to sob from pain.
//

father to son).

sA, 9UBD to make totter, to totter. i\)ihi\) IS to cut up, to be cut up.

* a i ~ // ~ i

^aLCPaJCD to stun, be stunned. i\,O^JO to make light, be light

H i H i

9JOOXC9 to scream. >5ittLaLP to cluck.

•
to wrinkle, be wrinkled. wflXtiJt, to empty out

// »

* -n u • n j n«*n*^to make to clatter, to
to wrinkle, be wrinkled. h&XOLX j cjatter

unifjXO to buffet, be buffeted. 9OV3*VX to make proud, be proud.
a i n t

• ' mm'

4J3 Xd to make or be ready. 3>T3bX to make spout, to spout

n i n t

OmJOmtJO to caw. ,

" ', *\*H\JV to guide.

>3LOaJJ to gather up. " . ',

" J kJQ3U*.>X to pant for breath.

39hXD to venture (intr.). " , !

" \ 9bttUkX to disciple.

>X,dLXg to rattle (as rain). ' " ,'

to whine.

to make tardy, be tardy.
to make smoky, be smoky.
to sprinkle, be sprinkled.
to chastise.

to stamp the foot.

to search.

to make neatly.

to knock.

i- 1 j

C • <•

t0 Crawl>

to brood'

to make thin, be thin.

to tremble violently.

to alter (tr. and intr.).
to alter (tr. and intr.).
to blacken, become black.
to crush in pieces.
to soil, be soiled.

*.ii.X \ to shake about (tr" and
XT* ,1 mtr.).

to make faint, be faint

to sob.

to glide (as a snake).

to besmear with tallow,
be besmeared.

to trim a candle.

( to make stumble, to
j stumble.

to make pale, be pale.
to stitch together.

Notes on the Preceding List.

As »^OV9 lias a talkana over the Cf, it may be considered as a
verb of three radicals, following the paradigm of hBXS* , second class.

and 9Jk3aJ3, though having five radicals, differ so little
a i H i

from the preceding model, that they need no special illustration.

^3LS>\X may in some respects be considered as a verb of three
radicals, having its perfect participle ZSftJ>^OX, and its future

VERBS OF FOUR RADICALS WITH FINAL 2.

Take for example !? tex * to understand.

3<*O^?SiQ Present Participle.
i> i »

In Koordistan, instead of the above, we have i-Oiox
As to the substitution of O or .* for 2 , see Hoff. § 33, 3.

ui^OlO^ Preterite.
i ,i »

The 2 is here dropped, but lengthens — into — •.

Perfect Participle.

In this participle - is substituted for 2 , and takes, in ad-
dition to its own appropriate vowel, the vowel -- .

Future.

Here the 2 is dropped in the masculine singular and in the
plural, but .» is substituted for it in the feminine singular,
just as in the perfect participle.

', \ Imperative.

aaJH

«' I '

NOTE. — This verb evidently has a relation to the ancient

but perhaps a still nearer relation to the Persian f& . In Bootan
we hear it thus : present participle, 2£o2&3 ; preterite, inVilfti^ ;
perfect participle, ?<ML»,^ ; future, *SQ>& \3 ; ^ having the sound

I ^ It H

off.

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE

i> /

» t i i

7*t »*1 to paw, dig into. t&V* to show favor (with

,• i ft

to clean out,becomeclean. ,? VfiJiP to despise.

to howl. JJOOJCP to twitter, to peep.

i' »

to paw into. ^9JkX to deceive.

*• '

to go round, surround. ^f XS to cut up.

to switch, be switched. ^9tS to rinse.

i' i

to bedaub, be bedaubed. <•"* to search.

j gutter!11 K°°rdiStan' to roll up or be rolled up.

to long after (with »bO ). iBa^X to snap (tr. and intr.).
• i1 •

to plaster. iXaJL to fag out, tire out

i' i

m >

to forget >UCDAX to nourish, be nourished.

NOTE. — ^3hft£a , which is inserted in the above list, does not

f 7, I

differ in pronunciation from the others, which end in 2 instead of X;
but the X is retained in writing out the different tenses.

When o is the second radical, from a kind of necessity,
one o is dropped in the preterite and perfect participle.
Thus, if we take iiObi to beseech, the present participle is
3.00101 ; the preterite, »j>aoa (instead of uJjaooi ) ; the

perfect participle, 2*iO& (for Z*iOa»); the future masculine,

* v_ ' ' . ' * ' * \,»

^104 T13 ; the future feminine, ^*iOi *V3 . From what has

been said in the Orthography, it will be evident why -*- is
here used in the present participle, instead of -'- .

Like 2&oi, inflect
to chirp. 2*0* | tocae t0

to acknowledge. S.'XteO to mew.

swpa to bleat

CAUSATIVE VERBS.

"We are now prepared to understand the formation of
Causative Verbs. Some of the simple verbs of three radi-

cals already given may be used in a causative sense, as ^**»

to strengthen, or to cause to become strong. Verbs of four radi-
cals have still oftener a causative signification ; but the
ordinary method of forming causatives is by prefixing io to
the three radical letters, and then considering the verb as
one of four radicals, and inflecting it accordingly. Thus,

iVyiVf^, when of the first class, means to go out; when of the
second class, to put out or bring out; and iV^V'Vyi (which is
inflected like ^J*i9C7), to cause to come out.

The verbs which thus form causatives are very numerous,
and comprise the majority of those of three radicals in the
preceding lists. The mode of formation is quite regular,
with the exceptions hereafter to be specified ; and the mean-
ing bears in almost all cases a close relation to the meaning
of the first root. A few causatives have been placed in the

list of verbs conjugated like ^*S»CT. These are either not
used in Oroomiah at all in their simple form, as A-»£>!0 to
listen; or the signification of the simple form is much changed,
as iVyT'V'p to accompany, or, better, to give a start to (a trav-
eller), from >^yt& to stretch out ; or the causative form, as
generally used, is neuter : e. g. ^£^9 to appear.

m i
NOTE. — k»Xdbo was inserted in the list of verbs inflected like

t J»« /

, with the idea that it was not properly a causative of any
verb in the Modern Syriac. But it may be the causative of ~5JQ

s t -^ " '

(a verb of the second class) to squeeze in. Compare 4^X0 in the
Ancient Syriac, and V^p in the Hebrew, to tear asunder, "to bite
in malice."

When the last radical of the ground-form is 2 , the caus-
ative verb follows the conjugation of froa^ instead of

Thus, from Wh3 to weep, we have ?A3UB fo

* i< i

to weep ; and so of a great number of others.

Verbs with final X do not differ in the causative form
from verbs with final 2 , except that X is retained in those

tenses where 2 is dropped, and slightly modifies the sound.

# '

Thus from tih£0k& we have ^aax&a , of which the present

a i a i ,

participle is lA±AJO>3tio ; the preterite, uJk6k*aX6£0 ; the

perfect participle, £*^»X.O£9 ; the future, ^.aootii Vl3
(masculine), j+^SAXia n.3 (feminine).

There has been perhaps an unnecessary irregularity in
regard to verbs with initial 2. Thus, from wkAJ and ao?,
we have >J»a,l!o and AOybo; while from J8UCPJ, AJO}, and
x»2 , we have wtilfi3£9 , >Xflba , and x&bo . As 2 is heard
very feebly, if at all, it is best, for the sake of uniformity,
to drop it altogether, and treat these causatives as verbs of

three radicals, second class. The other verbs with initial 2

, i

have no causative form. The future of aoJLbB, though
spelled regularly, is often pronounced morin.

Yerbs with medial 2 of the first class sometimes drop the
2 entirely, as ftlba from ft^f , in which case the causative is
inflected like a verb of three radicals, second class. But it

is far more common, at least in Oroomiah, for + to be sub-

i
stituted for 2, throughout the conjugation : e.g. ^JtoB, of

which the present participle is jftOMttD. Here the verb is
regularly conformed to the paradigm of *p9Hoiff , and no-
thing more therefore need be said on the subject.

Verbs with medial X retain the X, and are conjugated
like *J*A.

Verbs with initial - , when used as causatives, are quite
irregular. AJ>->, XflL, and >3Xi, become respectively
> A. vf» , xtt&, *9&£o, and are conjugated like verbs of the

second class having three radicals. £IA£o (to place), however,

when it denotes to cause to sit, to locate, retains the * trans-

* * '

posed; thus, »3UAio. >XX* becomes >VVD and will be

noticed farther on. iiflu becomes i&9 JSO or 2£9O£o , the lat-
ii ii • i«

ter conforming nearly to the Ancient Syriac. See under
i*3hS. *J>xi, *J»-*, fcA**> <«aJ, *l5L», transpose the .» and

ft H ii .» M • / H ii

become respectively i^»!X*> , JU^kao , MM^S , 4*9£0 and

m , a i //<_>«» ^*H i

X*3bSo, and are regular in conjugation.

Z*>x£ to understand, has for its causative ^JxA^a , and is
distinguishable from ^tfVAStt to cause to cut, only by a slight
difference in pronunciation.

OTHER IRREGULAR VERBS OF THE SECOND

CLASS.

VERBS WITH MEDIAL X.

One of these, and perhaps more, is inflected as a verb of
the second class, viz. 5*X- to revile.

Present Participle. w30^At» Preterite.

i n i 3»

XXr Vl3 )

Perfect Participle. " 7 " I Future.

, " , }• Imperative.

The causative of 9hX» is aA^a to cause to revile.

P res. Participle. b»XSk(*O»tt Preterite.

i >„ •

Per/. Participle. ^ ^T v_ " [• Future.
12

VERBS OF THREE RADICALS: THIRD RADICAL 2.

These are mostly inflected as verbs of the first class, but
not all of them. As an example of the second class, we

may take ?*Vfl> to deliver.

, Present Participle.

2*£OJQ», Perfect Participle.

Preterite.

Future.

Imperative.

In Koordistan the present participle is t*oJ3u8) ; and it is
to be understood that in all verbs resembling this, * is there
substituted for o .

Like ).^JO, inflect

§
to select, collect 3ftA to cover.

(•

to uncover. Z5aJ> to cover.

. i
to make pure.

to liken,
to winnow.

to meditate, to spell,
to narrate.

to keep (tr.).
to broil (tr.).
to conceal,
to aear.

to weary.

to make alive.

to prophesy>

to render difficult.
25bi to patch.

to divide (tr.).
to deliver (from).

Z^ ~ to pray.
.' -*

^ t

2-3 r to strain.

to parch (tr.). ZVX to depart.

to throw. 2 XX to begin.

ZflX to liken. ZiA to tell.

to spread. Z^A. to cause to adhere.

Notes on the Preceding List.

is a causative from Z-*ZV^ to become weary. ?n»fr8 , a caus-
ative from Z**» to fo'w, and Z Via are irregular by having •* in

the perfect participle and the future feminine, thus :
; and in the future,

If we do not distinguish between Z**^0 in the future

i i' i

and subjunctive and ZJ*£Q to s<rz'A:e, we shall be likely (in prayer,

for instance), when intending to say "0 Lord, revive (or quicken)
me !" to say " 0 Lord, strike me !" i^3 in the perfect participle is

•' ' ',+ m

often written as well as pronounced JLSO3.

VERBS OF THREE RADICALS : THIRD RADICAL X .

These verbs, when inflected as verbs of the second class,

do not differ essentially from the paradigm, of verbs with

.»

final 2. For example, A&ftV^ to assemble (transitive).

Preterite.

« r?( Participle. v * <

It will be noticed that X is retained throughout, and that
the perfect participle and future feminine singular (in one
form) take — as the second vowel.

•
Like bka&\ inflect ^t&do, a causative from ^aL> to know;

I " t. "ml " • '

Aa>SD to make smooth ; £t9£0 to pasture, from i*Xft to qraze ;
"i, ' , ' » > r > ,. , y

and >fr>t*B to cause to plaster, from 3L*^>X to plaster.

HI l> I

The irregular verb 2a2 to curdle, of the first class, has for

• * ''
its causative 2aji» , and is thus inflected :

Present Participle. uM^O^O Preterite.

*
Perfect Participle. ." ', " [Future.

Imperative.

^4 ' *

So inflect ZBJia from IS- to 5a&e. The verb ^Mu to swear,

i' i i> t »•

besides the causative £BO£O , already noticed, sometimes

i1 i

makes its causative in the same way. Thus we have
i

inflected like

The anomalous verb X»Ji9 to cause to come, to bring, which

*' ' • '

is doubtless derived from the ancient 2Au&9 , may also be

classed here. As used on the plain of Oroomiah, it is thus
inflected :

i* Present Participle. 7 V >;1.0Jtt Preterite.

Perfect Participle. " ', " \Future.

, \ Imperative.

]

As used in Koordistan, its root is %*^9 , which is evi-
dently from the Afel form of the ancient verb (Hoff. § 78, 3).
It is thus inflected :

J V Present Participle. uJt*lA£0 Preterite.

)

to <3

Perfect Participle. " ', " \ Future.

*» /

, ' " J > Imperative.

)

The irregular verb 2-*O to flame, has 2op^9 for its caus-
ative, and is thus, inflected:

Pres. Participle. »«CfrJ>Oi9 Preterite.

i i> i

^etiteVia)

: " A it. " f Future.

'» r Imperative.
}

The irregular verb i»iJJ to t^/sA, has 3Vafr9 for its caus-
ative.

;.OVO.aao Present Participle. ^^30^9 Preterite.

> H i

Perfect Participle. , "',."}• Future.

1^*3*0 1X3

» K i H '

I V Imperative.
«4%* \

NOTE. — The verb of existence \*} there is, \* there is not, is

i i

used in the Modern Syriac differently from the idiom of the Ancient.
It will be referred to again in the Syntax.

I-3

^^H

fe f-> £
^ o £1

O b*-

3*1 V7f . •£ *« *)

•« A <$ *5 d

O D ~<J J -O

n ~ >1

a a

.i;

1 15

\"^»- \"^

^1 " " .3, ^

•5 "A . *^ * «A

a a

I 4 1 1 ^T d'

W.**tflr

^:$

§ ,1 1 -^ t
-2 .H ^ ^ A

«>4. *^* ». "!> -sii

xv *^i *^»

•I

\7f J
4.5

«A

\«>* \ t

.n - fj

*•» >

t~4J-~2 «14

Il-Vi.

J'J'J

vf * A -fc
-* \

*A »*

-"4 *

t .

' -

S 1 -3 j^3 S-^'I I 3-3.3

i't^.iH-1 1-iJll

1 A £ J •* **•* •«* "** -^ "•*

J
-

Pret

•^

11 -B--X5--J

a -i .3

a n- 5

-K--^i-wa

a. Is

a a

PASSIVE VOICE.

The Passive Voice, especially as formed by the first method
given below, is very little used in the colloquial dialect of
the people of Oroomiah. This results probably from the
warmth of their feelings, which instinctively prefers a direct
mode of expression. Where we should say "You will be
delivered," they say "(Such a person) will deliver you;"
for "You will be beaten," we generally hear the expression
" They will beat you ;" and so in a great number of cases.
In the mountains, the passive voice is freely used in conver-
sation ; and, as it is employed also in our preaching and our
books, it is desirable to become well acquainted with it.
This is, however, an easy task.

There are three methods of indicating the passive voice,
which will be in turn considered.

Method 1st.

The passive voice of any verb may be formed by prefix-
ing to its perfect participle the inflections of the root «*!» ,

in its different moods and tenses. This root properly means
to remain; but, when thus employed as an auxiliary, it is
equivalent to the verb of existence. Let us take for exam-
ample the passive voice of X»*sb to strike, the perfect parti-
ciple of which is V**** » ^***^a and the infinitive passive

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
I am struck

(m-)« ^ ^ -^A^ ^«!d We are

1st fern. etruck"

2nd masc. ,. f f

i***S9 ». pri- ,1Xi>i9 2nd plural.
2nd fern.

3rd masc. , ? f

^fciix^O X^* ?*"** 3rd plural.
3rd fern.

"We have been accustomed to drop the S of the present
participle of this auxiliary.

Imperfect Tense.

I was struck

** We were
stnlrk

^ 2 d

3rd

,^x 3rd

*B fem<

Preterite Tense.

I was struck (m.> ^^ We were

1st fern.

2nd masc. , ...

Z»**» ^.%AVa,a 2nd plural.
2nd fern. '' "

3rd maso. , .

U-.S9 ^aikX^ 3rd plural.
3rd fern. " "

Sometimes woof is used as the auxiliary, and we have

' ''
, etc.

Perfect Tense.

I have been

struck (m.). , ^ *, ,^ We have

-iir ^f**T 7 ^T"^ been struck.

1st fern.

2nd masc. ,. ,

i**fc» *0«- 5-3U= 2nd plural.

2nd fem- "

3rd masc.

3rd plural.
3rd fem. " "

Pluperfect Tense.
I had been

1st fern. •' " _,r t , >

We had been struck.

'2nd mnsc.

2nd fem.

3rd masc.

3rd fem. «' " 0 , •' ' ,

3rd plural.

Future Tense.

In this tense either the future of the verb kXiS or the
future of the verb ioof may be employed. The significa-
tion in either case is nearly or quite the same.

8ha111,be
7 struck (m.). ^^^ 4k Vg We shall

1st fem. S " be struck-

2nd masc. ,, s

Z<M^9 ^lU&iB 1X3 2nd plural.
2nd fem. '' "

3rd masc. , .

i*-*» «Jt*Bl\a 3rd plural.

3rd fem. '' " '

In the same way inflect

NOTE. — There may possibly be, at times, a difference in the significa-
tion of these futures, arising from the signification, on the one hand,
of kXi^ to remain, and, on the other, of %AC1 to become. Thus :

<3 he will be or continue in a state of holiness.

2OC7 \S he will become sanctified.
f »

100

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Here either ^t*9 or »^0f maybe used, as in the future tense.
Thus we have, for the present, ZM*^B ^X*a or ?><«"o ^ftCT ;

for the imperfect, V»<*!» £ioc7 ^C»a or 3>«**o iacf «^0f , in
a perfectly regular manner.

It is to be particularly observed that, where a verb is
used in both the first and second classes, with the same sig-
nification, the shade of meaning in the passive will de-
pend on which perfect participle is used in its formation.

To illustrate : JS*3 , as a verb of either the first or second
class, means to scatter seed, to sow. But >LdL**3 Z**^ means
it was sowed or scattered, as if by itself; while J-df OJ3 jjJt^
means it was sowed (by some individual). The signification
is sometimes, however, such that this distinction cannot be

kept up ; e. g. jiBuat^ ?Wfl and TJKXSn^ ;\ar£ he was

i i< a i ,' a

grieved or sorry, there being in neither case reference to the
agent causing the sorrow. JJMJLB 3AA^ and Z3k30>B JJ*X^
he was received, on the other hand, must both of them indi-
rectly refer to the agent.

Where the same word is used in both the first and second
classes, with different meanings, of course there is a similar

distinction in the passive ; as, Xl**^X ?S>.t.fl he was lost,

i I* "

he was destroyed,

NOTE. — It has been sometimes supposed that J% >\*1 in the ex-
pression j\ »*\*1 3 Vt *i , is a perfect participle. But as <hX9 is
of the second class, and such a participle does not belong to verbs of
the second class, this expression should be translated, not, he was
made blessed, but, he was a blessed individual, ?^ -Si*T being an
adjective.

NOTE 2. — Sometimes the verb &T& is used as almost or quite
equivalent to the verb of existence, although the perfect participle of

101

* X * ^

another verb is not joined with it. Thus, 4&9 f&* IJLtS I have

^>u > // <

remained in doubt, or / aw in doubt, may be employed wherever

I*OL* A.O3 would be allowable, and vice versa,
v«^ ^S,

Method 2nd.

There is a curious form of the passive, in daily use among
the people, in which the verb /•!$ to come is employed as
an auxiliary, and the infinitive active of another verb is
joined with it in a passive sense. We will take for illustra-
tion as before the root ?-M.*O to strike.

i->*\ J3 I am struck.

I was being struck.
I was struck.

kdOu 3-»*\^ I have been struck.
^ a i

I had been struck.
I shall be struck.

The subjunctive so much resembles the indicative, that it
need not be written out.

Sometimes this form, especially in Koordistan, is a pas-

$ $ i 4

sive of capability, as, for example, >L»»Vfc\ 2x2 ^ if it can

be struck, i. e. if it come into the position in which it may be
struck. This is perhaps the primitive idea of this form.
There is, however, another mode in Oroomiah of expressing

the sentiment, viz. : Z**lso %A91 ^ , where >?»*»^3 is used as

I* "

we should use strikable in English, if such a word were

L.% $ 5

allowed. So JJ^PLX ix>07 ^ —if it be takdble.
i< //

Method Brd.

4 ^, 5 .

Instead of the form i*—So k»A^ ^36*a , the perfect active
H ^ a i

is often used in a passive sense. For the preceding, we thus

s t

have ^Ou i»**io I have been struck. The explanation of this

102

probably is that the perfect participle is passive, as well as
active, in its meaning, while ^oJ is merely a verb of exist-

ence, / am .... having been struck. The pluperfect active
is also frequently used in the same way for the pluperfect

passive ; thus, JjftOf ^A^ X***£o may signify / had struck, or
I had been struck.

VEEBS WITH SUFFIXES.

Although the suffix-pronouns of the Modern Syriac are
few and simple, it requires much practice to use them readily
and accurately in conversation. It will be desirable there-
fore to examine the subject carefully.

The verbal suffixes do not diifer, except in one or two
instances, from those used for nouns and prepositions. A
list of them has been already given. It will now be shown
how these pronouns are suffixed to the verb in its different
inflections.

Root ^BJQ*3 to heal.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense.
^ A £.ix^Aj»ial I (m«) arn neal"

ingthee(m.).

am heahn "

oJ nf*ftvn>,m>i \ Mm healing
^r* a\ hi

m
him.

When the person speaking is a female, we have the same
forms as above, except that »^* is throughout substituted
for ^*.

£ j Thou (m.) art , , , „,,

3 1 t, i ^» 1 hou art heal-

,M Thou art heal-

I iner him, , , „,,

, mu. n_— iV* *' ..kLZ«.MJ Thouartheal-

ing them.

103

« ' x
Here, as before, if the nominative be feminine, uILQu is to

be substituted for

MOJQia$Heisheal-
, ,, ~l ing us.

/l
thee(rn.).

f is l^al

thee(f.).

him. y

HeishealinS ^ ing them.

If the agent is a female, iifc- is to be substituted for

-7^7- -Jingthee(rn). , ^a^QMa\ We are
L .^.X «K<4 ) We are heal- ^C , *~^ 5 healing you.

a}\ngtiiee(f.).
L jwiL ( We are heal-
ing him. ^_^ ^^m^^Weareheal-

ing them.

croJS90»3<

ing her.
&

•*. .^^ Ij.j.i \
^r^T

$L,

^ ,ng thee (f.).

\ They are heal- «* /. ' _. * ( They are heal-

jing me> U

\They are heal-

f They are heal-

u ! ing them.

ing her.

One who has familiarized himself with the preceding suf-
fixes of the present tense, will have no difficulty in using
the suffixes with the imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and
second future tenses. In every case the suffix is to be
joined with the participle, and not with the auxiliary. Take

104

* X X ' *

as examples XftCT (A- t*C70£OOJQ&3 / was healing him,

he has healed you, OOCf
i« » • . ' , . ' i i

had healed me, 97OJOJCDO3 iocT 113 Ae «n7Z Acwe healed her.

Preterite Tense.

The regular preterite, >>V.'»<T)O3> since its appropriate
terminations so much resemble the suffix-pronouns, does
not admit of their use except in a single case. In the third
person singular masculine we may have cjXiflJBMkS he healed
him, Cf being substituted for the terminal 2.

When it is desirable to employ suffixes with the preterite,
the form ^OttoS ^3Ld is much used in Oroomiah. While

the suffixes of this tense are, in the main, like those of the
present, imperfect, pluperfect, and second future, it takes

in many cases a sliding letter S, and uses for the suffixes of
the third person singular Cf , and Cf * , and of the third per-
son plural ^ and J&O1 . The future tense follows this form
of the preterite in every respect, and so too those tenses of
the subjunctive which resemble the future in their form,

except that, where ^ACf is used, the pronoun is placed after
it, and always takes the sliding letter ^ .

i.) healed
* 1. thee (m.). • _ _ * .^ -_ »i ^ L , , , ,

^L^i ^Li.3^LJ^^^j ^^L^9 I npn Pn vmi

' ' T healed *^Tir T^ ^T

\ l
( tt

thee (f.).

^OJO I healed him. %^4JttU(&3

I V I healed them

^3LD I healed her. i>lVfcfl>*1 *pJB ) (more rarely).

I II I

When the verb has a feminine nominative of the first
person singular, we have, instead of the preceding form,

etc.

efahet »* A.\aB>3 /BLO (more rarely).

105

When the agent is a female, the form is »*^ w

etc.

He healed me. A ^LttkS *Ld { He nhaealed

^ i a i ' U8<

urf M.M terf M He healed

»A9 XO j thee K). , , , He healed

, ^ ^^ , ,
'

^OLO ) (mote rarely).

« , * a i '

The form is the same as the preceding, when the nomina-

£ £

tive is the third person singular feminine, >1iftfi>3 being sub-
stituted for ^3Lft>3 . "When the verb ia in the plural, whether
it be of the first, second, or third person, its suffixes are
similar to those of the second and third persons singular ;

tit' V' ' * '

e. g. Oj^t ASOJB&3 '/BLO we healed him, |A »^fe£OJ&a ^BLO

•' ^ Li ' f I ' ' '

ye healed us, nAJA M&&A9 *pLO they healed thee (f.).

Where ^ is employed as a connecting letter, the suffix is
generally written separately from the verb, though this is
not essential.

There is a very common form of the preterite, in which
the pronoun, instead of being suffixed, as in the preceding
examples, to the verb, is embraced within it, and precedes
the terminal letters. The perfect participle of any verb
being known, the pronoun is to be suffixed to this, after the

final 1* has been dropped, and the terminations •«, feOA,
ma>\ , etc., added to form the different persons. After i~

•

we have simply **, <p*, etc.

The pronouns are as follows, and are evidently fragments
of the separable personal pronouns.

4,7- me. &•!— us.

X— thee (m«).
Nf- thee(f.).
*-- her. .»£-- them.

The pronouns for the third person singular masculine
and the second person plural are wanting ; but this gives

VOL. V. 14

106

rise to no practical difficulty, as the idea may always be ex-
pressed by ^AlSaa *ftJB with the appropriate suffixes. From
Zd&AXxa, its termination being dropped, we have £OJDO9.
Adding to this the pronoun of the first person, with the
terminations given above, we then have :

c Thou (m.) healedst
I me.

« Thou (f.) healedst *
I me.

He healed me.
She healed me.

By a similar process, we have :

,*j» Z\£OJCDOb9 I healed thee (m.).
i n i

Z-^ \ZQJCO&3 He healed thee.
She healed thee.
I healed thee (f.).

\aamnol He healed thee.

i i

She healed thee.

I healed her.

1 Thou (m.) heal-
l edst her.

< Thou (f.) heal- *
c edst her.

He healed her.
She healed her.

I < Thou (m.) heal-
( edst us. L

I J Thou (f.) heal- *"

< edst us.

\ You healed
c me.

J They healed
( me.

$ We healed
I thee.

, They healed
thee.

X^UfflOJ \
Vi • <

ftl He healed us.

^lftL"1^^ She healed us.

We healed
her.

You healed

hen

*> I w. •*<**« ^ They healed

^^^Yt*^^*? ^ You healed
us>

They healed
US<

107

I healed them. (.S^aftffloa j We healed

^» i (. them.

o^auoo3 J Thou (m') hea1'

7""^ ( edst them.

?> n^fllCt) Q,3 He healed them.

JA J.^-. j They healed

T^.VfcOal She healed them. ' * them-

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE SUFFIXES OF VERBS.

It should be understood that all the suffixes given above
may be used in precisely the same manner with verbs of
both classes, whether regular or irregular. Some of these
forms, however, are not in universal use among the peo-
ple. For instance, in Tekhoma, instead of the expressions

s ' * • ' * ' *

OfO£OOJQk9, we hear

Nor do any verbs there admit of the

suffixes w#OfO and CfO . The form >VfcQ>*1 ^OLd is never used

i i ^ a i

in the interior districts of Koordistan. In its place we may
hear the form of the preterite last given, which includes
the pronoun within itself; or, in case the idea could not
be expressed by that, as " I healed you (pi.)," expressions

such as .^xdoJ^ >»j>aai,iB)aa would take its place.
• a i a i

There are other local peculiarities in the use of the suf-
fixes, such as t*OfoAv« they saw; him, on which it is unne-
cessary to dwell. The usage in our books has of late years
been quite uniform. It may, however, be remarked that
the suffixes u^i, ^flA^, etc., are found much oftener in
the written than in the spoken Syriac of Oroomiah.

RELATION OF THE MODE'RN TO THE ANCIENT

VERB.

Before dismissing the Yerb, it will be interesting to refer
briefly to the structure of the verb in the ancient language,
and trace, if possible, some of the changes it has undergone.

108

And, first of all, it is obvious that regular verbs of three
radicals of the first class bear a strong analogy in form and
signification to the conjugation Peal. The imperative is in
both precisely the same, except that in the modern *^ is
almost universally added to the plural. We do, however,

• j

hear in one district, Nochea, oA>S6fcX hear ye, OX come ye.
The perfect participle of the modern is also the same with
the passive participle of the ancient, except that it always
takes the termination 2', in accordance with the general usage
of the modern. Sometimes the ancient participle is used in

an active sense ; e. g. >J>*BLX , >J>*3? , etc. So, much oftener,
i 1*1

the modern. Sometimes the ancient participle unites both

significations in the same verb, as in the case of ,>>••?.

i i

So ordinarily the modern.

It also seems easy to see how the modern infinitive is de-
rived from the ancient, viz. iS»Vyl1Y» , ^ being substituted
for to, or, rather, to being dropped, the usual 2'being added,
and the -'-, as a necessary consequence, being changed into
-*-. We thus have ]S

As to the preterite, when we find opt 'pLfl in the ancient,
meaning "he rose to himself," i. e. he rose, who can doubt
that this is nothing more nor less than >lS>toLO ? So

in the ancient is equivalent to iAf 1 in the modern,

to 3\^a , ov^ t£x£ to i^OX^ , and so on. Our mode,

however, of spelling the preterite, more correctly represents
the present pronunciation. In regard to the general idiom,
see Hoff. § 123, 6, and Nordh. § 868.

As to the future, it is very plainly derived from the pres-
ent participle of the ancient language. Any one who will
examine Hoff. § 57, 2, and compare the forms there given
with the modern, will be satisfied at once. The present sub-
junctive has of course the same origin. No trace remains
of the ancient future.

109

As to the particle Via, prefixed to the future of all verbs,
it is barely possible that it is identical with «^««£, bidi, which
is employed in the same way in the Armenian verb. But
it is far more probable that it is a fragment of £ka to wish.
In some parts of Koordistan the people use J^S for *ha ;
e. g. »££Bf a i^*3 I wish to sing, literally, that I may sing.
But in Tal we find a mode of speaking which seems to be
decisive as to the origin of A3 , and also goes to show that
it should have been written 9b9 . Thus :

I will sing (m.). ff , ,

*?*»*? ^a 1st plural.
1st fern.

2nd masc. . O A--CBJ3 4U^3 2nd pi. masc.

i f

2nd fern. f*A~£*f» t^A^ka 2nd. pi. fern.
^ i< / v ,•

3rd masc.

3rd plural.
3rd fern. ' '

In the same way the verb to wish is used as an auxiliary in
Persian, in forming the future, as <Axi f?|>J>. In English also,
will and wish are in many cases identical ; e. g. What will
you ? which may mean what do you wish f So will in other
languages: vouloir, volo, fiovl.oiLa,i, which mean either to
will or to wish. Compare also the modern Greek future

Atkuj yq&wei, $t'Aw area, etc., / will write, I will be. So

< ' i

too, from the ancient ?0k**i9 we have the modern aa**!B ,
ii t a i

and from the ancient *A\>~.*tt , the modern tMMmio .
a i a i

As to the present participle, the question may fairly be
raised, whether the prefix a is not really a preposition, the
present participle being in fact a verbal noun. If this idea

be correct, ^Ou ^d'a^t may be literally translated / am in
(the act of) finishing ; ^oL* 3J^Z3 / am in (the act of) eating.
The verb ^j*^ to laugh, which uses both forms ,7 Tv..^ *1 and
?S>»^*1 in the present, the latter being clearly a noun, seems
to throw light on this point.

110

On examining the second class of verbs of three radicals,
we see a resemblance to the conjugation Pael. Take, for

example, the verb <*X9 (modern <»^3) to Uess. In the an-

.."'.' " • '

cient, the imperative is ^9*3, and the plural <kA9b9 ; in the

modern, 4>9J9 , ^^axa . The infinitive in the ancient is
aa£aa ; in the modern, 2-&69J9£o or jLaoaJS, the first form

being no doubt the more ancient one. Here the resem-
blance in sound is very striking, arid a transposition of the
o will make the written forms not dissimilar.

As to the present participle, e. g. ZAO9J3UB , this may be

derived from the infinitive of Pael, and can be from nothing
else. It is therefore to be considered primitively an infini-
tive, though now used as a participle. The perfect participle
is evidently from the participle of Pael. Thus, the ancient

is &ab3» , ^aLaaa ; the modern, Z^bofco , 2^2»a£to .

ml mil m I m II I

e has been inserted here, but the sound is not materially
changed. The same remark applies to the preterite, which
has a derivation similar to that of the preterite of the first

* • '
class. Compare the ancient «^ ^»9*3 with the modern

* » / " '

k*X^aaa . As to the future, a single remark may be made.

Since - - is the distinguishing vowel of Pael, it is not strange
that this should be often preferred to -*- in the modern.

And so we find it, e. g. Aa^ and many other verbs of
the second class. The -^ is also naturally preferred in the
present participle.

Verbs of the second class often bear the same relation to
verbs of the first class that Pael does to Peal, neuter verbs
of the first class becoming transitive in the second class, as
has been already shown (Hoff. § 59).

The causative verbs, formed by prefixing 'so to the root,
are evidently connected, if not identical, with the participle
of Afel, or, if any one prefers, with the conjugation of Mafel.

Thus, from the ancient h&9t9 , we have JSaJtto ; and from

. * ' .»»"•'

the modern i-flaJS, we have also uOjXiUD . So too, from an-
cient a<x**!», modern aa**£0; from ancient lAXmJto, mod-
ern Av,m.*o .

Ill

While the signification of any particular verb in the an-
cient may not correspond to that of the same verb in the
modern, the general usage in regard to Afel and the modern
causative verb is the same. For instance, the Nestorians
sometimes simply change the intransitive into a transitive.

Thus, in the modern, from the intransitive f 5^3 to dry, we

• • ' "

have f 9t3&9 to dry, i. e. to make dry. Sometimes they change

the transitive verb into a causative, with an accusative of
the person and another of the thing; thus, from *X2&
to put on (clothes), we have JC3LJ>^9 to cause to put on:

ZJtoX^c^ kXKkto put clothes upon him. Sometimes these

i1 »*i'«» . » ,

forms are used in an intransitive sense, as J^a^tt to freeze,

unnoiafl to rest; which, though they admit of a causative sig-
nification, are oflener intransitive. Compare Hoff. § 60.

"We see also in the Modern Syriac traces of several of the
rarer conjugations. For example, the reduplication of a
single letter of the root ; as A-xX, from JjkS,; iV^, >«x<l , from

\x** ; tX.V\V , from kXSkii^ ; or the falling away of one
a a i n

radical, and the reduplication of the other two ; as (Palpel)

h0aJ99,from <JOi*; AxAi, from b£iX; or the addition

// i n n i n ,

of 1 to the root (in the ancient w*) ; as (Pali) ZSoaJ^ , from
tJx3: 2av», from 9X*; 2aAJ*, from >^« ; or the addi-
tion of »^to the root; as (Palen) Jxdd (ancient

, from >%; Op, from ep; or the prefixing
, it, a i i '

of X ; as (Shafel) AJ>*««X , from >M*^» ; or the prefixing

of tt; as (Safel) ^sM^i from &* 5 ia-JO, probably
from ixau,; or the prefixing of X; as (Tafel) xiik,X, prob-

" m ' t , ' st1 V^ " '

ably from !X3\, (aauXjClj) ; or, in a few cases, verbs of

five radicals from verbs of three radicals, as in Hebrew, bv

» i J

reduplication; as *S»£M3, from

112

ARTICLE.

The Modern Syriac has properly no definite article ; but
the demonstrative pronouns OCf masc., *-Cf fern., and «**2
comm. pi. are often used as we use the definite article in
English. It need hardly be remarked that this is also the
usage of the ancient language. Compare the Hebrew arti-
cle H , which is no doubt a fragment of the pronoun jtfiri
(Nordh. § 648). Ordinary usage prefixes these pronouns to
the noun, and hardly admits of their following it.

The numeral JU» masc., }$* * fern., is also employed as an
indefinite article, in accordance with early usage. Compare
the Chaldee ""Jin and the occasional use in Hebrew of IflX •
On the plain of Oroomiah, %*» is prefixed to nouns of both
genders.

NOUNS.

The Nestorians formerly made no distinction between
nouns and adjectives ; but, as there are many and obvious
reasons for treating them separately, the general practice of
grammarians will be followed.

GENDER.

The noun is of two genders, masculine and feminine, often
not distinguishable by their termination. Thus, ,7i»^| a
miller is masculine, and 2»gbX ^e is feminine, though both
have the same termination %i . Only one rule of much im-
portance can be given for the gender of nouns as distinguish-
ed by their form, viz. that those which receive the ending ^X
are feminine. This rule is nearly or quite a universal one.

£ / £ 55 £ I

3^*9 a house, ]$JLA& a fist, 2&*A£» death, and fa**lageMinyf
which are masculine, are not to be considered as exceptions j
for in these words X is a part of the root, and not of the

113

termination. The final syllable of the masculine noun is
often changed into 2^ , or more rarely Js-» , to form the fem-
inine ; e. g. jaMut* a donkey, jXMflU* a she-donlcey ; %XDQJSD
a horse, j^XDOJD a mare; ?S»VX a fox, ^*j*XX a she-fox,

' ' £ '?

etc. i/ftft** a serpent has for its feminine 5>»OOa**, some-
what irregularly.

In a few nouns, the vowels are modified in the feminine ;
e. g. la&a a dog, ^3^A a bitch ; i^a a tooth, ^AA a
little tooth, as of a watch-wheel, etc.

Some nouns ending in 2 are feminine ; e. g. i**i$ a mill,

in a hen-house, iv* a kind of cradle, ?3O£ a manqer.
i' i> ..«,,''' i' '

a recess, f9Q£Uk a ford. Also the names of females, as

**'''* *

JAi , Zv— , }* * > etc. This rule has frequent exceptions, and

is given with some little hesitation.

A separate word is also used in some cases for the femin-
ine ; e. g. 3 VI J a male sparrow, ^XXSkXD a female sparrow ;
£££j(D plural (m. and f.); i3^a a male wolf, 5&AO? a she-
wolf ; >*ft V., 13 a male cat, rC q a she-cat ; Uo^. a c?ra^e,

•'•' t* ' ^^T^ p ' • »| i

a duck,' .l*ft a maZe buffalo, 5^Jt»V^ a female buffalo.

Gender distinguished by signification. — The names of males,
of nations, as Israel, Judah, etc., of rivers, mountains, and
months, of artizans, traders, and professional persons, are
masculine. So too, as in Hebrew, a multitude of material-

nouns, beginning with £a*V^ a body, such as those denoting

gold, silver, copper, and all the metals, excepting lead ; wood,
stone (sometimes feminine), wool, flesh, grass, dirt, glass,
cotton, fire, lime, paper, spice, gall-nuts, copperas ; also
chair, table, book, lock, key, bread, etc.

On the other hand, all names of females, whether belong-
ing to the human race, or not ; relations of woman, such as
mother, wife, etc. ; the names of villages, cities, provinces,
countries, and islands, are feminine. The names of trees

VOL. V. 15

114

and fruits are partly masculine and partly feminine. Nouns
of capacity are generally feminine, but exceptions are not
infrequent. Abstract nouns are also in the majority of cases

feminine, beginning with 2-* Oft spirit, and take for the most
part their appropriate termination $N or ;«A. When
an article has two sizes, if the word denoting the larger is
masculine, that denoting the smaller or inferior is naturally
feminine ; e. g. the earthen vessels denoted respectively by

and ?VOft.u ; lloAx and

v *

^X ; the copper vessels K-*X and T

' s ».*'*'

box, and JVlAfl a little box, etc. ivOJO and ^j>AJCP are

both feminine, but the latter does not necessarily denote a
small knife. The rule has, however, probably exceptions.

The rule in Hebrew that "members of the body by na-
ture double are feminine," has in Modern Syriac some ex-
ceptions, although the words used to express elbow, knee,
heel, ear, hand, foot, thigh, shoulder-blade, eye, cheek, etc.,
are evidence oi its existence.

Some nouns are used by the people of one district as mas-
culine, and by those of another as feminine: as iocf the air,
or the weather. In the plural, there is generally no distinc-
tion of genders.

The above rules and suggestions may be of some use to
the learner, and are the result, however unsatisfactory they
may be, of full and careful investigation. But it should be
understood that no foreigner can speak the language cor-
rectly, without a thorough study of the subject for himself.

NUMBER.

There are two numbers, as in English, the singular and
the plural. The plural, in the case of most nouns, is
formed by changing -^, which is ordinarily the vowel of

the last syllable, into — , as iSfliKD a part, iiflUCD parts, and
placing over the word the two square dots now called 7 <n*.CP ,
but in the ancient language oftener h»Ot93 . In a similar

115

way, many nouns which do not in the singular terminate in
2 form their plural by adding 2 ; e. g. IXM9 a people, plu-

i ' »* ** * "

ral 5&J*^> . These nouns are mostly of foreign origin.

Nouns ending in 2x form their plurals by changing that

termination into 2X-» , and more rarely into 2XO or 2XX .

,i , J , ,i ,i

Thus, 5^0^^ fruit, V*AOV\, fruits; 3fr*^s « caw,
2X*SJkSi '•<//•'.••-• / 2XA/P a lip, 2XO>SJD lips ; 2XA.3 a woman,

2XXJX9 women. In some cases, where the plural is formed
''"'.*
by adding 2XO , the original X. is retained, and especially

if it forms a part of the root. "We thus have, from ^3 a

face, 3sJauC\S , and not 2XA^ ; from V*-* a house, J^bVCs ;

•' '- '* *••'', ' >' '

from ib** a sister, 2XJaX*». Yet, in vulgar usage, X is

sometimes dropped from ^jaX£0 ; the plural of IteQ a vil-
lage. 2xaa a yard, forms its plural irregularly, thus, 2X33 .
So 5^A a bride, 2«&A ; ^JL& a week, 16OLS. • 2X9bA a
burden, 2Xxa . 2&A an ear retains the X, and has for its

plural 5&"»"* • The class forming the plural in 2X^ is very
numerous, and comprises the greater part of the feminine
nouns in 2x , and perhaps all in }jjjft . ^jftftoV*) testimony
has generally 2XA30VB , but admits a regular plural.

In Koordistan, the plural termination of nouns of which
the singular ends in 2X is ^5** , J^JB , or 2XX , in accordance
with the usage of the ancient language. We thus have
£JMu,, £-*3X.> etc.

The plural termination V* ig by no means confined to nouns
of which the singular ends in 2X . If a word terminate in
2 5 the 2 may be dropped and V* added ; e. g. 2£& a heart,

2XOJI& : 230fA CL river, /nAdOfJk- If the word terminate
,i a i i> i

in 2 ( , the 2 is dropped as before, and — is changed into ^- ;

116

e. g. 2ao2 a manger, /Snjaio2; JJ&QJCQ a horse, ^AUDQJtD .
A a recess has either 2XOOA or 2XAA . If the word

terminate in a consonant, this takes — , and then the term-
ination is added ; e. g. AttX, a pool, fc.xiAftlV. ; Jk'V.mV an

t ••$ 2 ' '* ^_ ' IA ^

army, tefVV^fi*^ . But it is to be noted that *\A3-X a

* * * I s

mercy does not take this -?-, but makes its plural %jB&dJL& .

,• i

A very prevalent, but vulgar, pronunciation of plurals in
iX* , 2XO, or 2XX, is to change the sound of 2X final into

that of long e. Thus, the plural of 3JPOJD is pronounced

P •* * *' '

soosawae; of >b^9, mawae, etc.

A class of nouns by no means inconsiderable form the
plural by changing the final 2 ' of the singular into 2x'; e. g.

cloud, /nJbuX .

Another class change the singular termination 2' into !»';
or, in case the singular does not end in 2 ', add i* to it.
Examples of the first are }j»BL< a field. ,7i^kdu» ; Jlot-* a

..'' . v' '' ' * .."

vision, Jib V« : of the other, ^^O£o rea^ estate, JAaAa^Q ;

I* II if I * H

Still another small class is characterized by the doubling
in the plural of the consonant which precedes the final 2 ;
e. g. ,lS»ft^t a skirt, ?iS>Sa^,t ; 10o£ a nostril, jH.Dft^ ;

U l> H

Some few nouns are reducible to no rule ; e. g.

•••' •* ' ••••*•

a daughter, j^3 ; >b^X a year, Jii ; ZlO9t9 a sor>r

i' ,i f H i f

an egg, }SJ3; 2'aJjX a husband, ZiX*aV. or 2aJtV,;

H »• . / |< » i1 • •

* •• # *••

a c%, j&ii »>^Q ; 2XX^ a church, 2X!kX . Some
' . •* ' •* .* f

have Turkish plurals, with the Syriac termination added ;

e. g. 2&X an island, 2aiu&X. So sometimes iikj a master,

117

Some nouns have two or three plurals ; as, 3&^&0 a verb,
; Zioo- a c/ay, 200* , ivia~ , ^OObi .
It is noticeable, in regard to a number of these, that the sig-
nification changes with the form of the plural ; e. g. 5^*avX

.. ' . i mm I . ' ' '

a grape, iXiX grapes (by the quantity), %& M\ ^ individual
grapes ; fet^yi* a grain of wheat, l\j*t wheat (by the quan-

tity), !b'^y -- grains of wheat. So JjjJkO^ a shoe, i-^O^,
a bead, 2 !XlflL«< , fcLakSau* ; %i>^X"> a boot,

,' II l> H t I It,

5^>*? a grain, U"? , ^ISaaa .

|' It, l> I It, HI l> l> II I

Some nouns are used only in the plural ; e. g. 3^9 water,
•*'**> '

Z**» life, /Ifrfc^a mercy, etc. Some, such as names of metals,
i> i i* i

do not admit of any plural.

The plurals of most nouns must be learned by practice,
as, with the exception of those in fejft , no certain rule can

be given for ascertaining what form the plural assumes.
The design has been in the preceding examples to give the
plurals in most common use ; but, as every native we con-
sult thinks, of course, the custom in his own village is the
prevalent one, it is difficult to arrive at certainty. In this,
and a great number of other cases, the forty pupils of our
Seminary, who are from places widely separated from each
other, have been questioned.

CASE. CONSTRUCT AND EMPHATIC STATE.

The termination of most nouns is not affected by a change
of case. Their different relations are generally expressed
by prepositions, as in English and many other languages.

The construct state, a remnant of the ancient language,

is also found in the Modern Syriac. Some forms, as, for

• * •«/
instance, u£09O2 uAS the sons, i. e. people, of Oroomiah, are

' ' if

in constant use. So, too, with the nouns ending in ii ,

in certain districts ; e. g. ZaflU«>\ ^>TL« a baker of bread, for
jj.j '

ZviA » . Moreover, to a limited extent, the first

118

noun changes final 2 into »* when in the construct

•' * v_'

state. We thus have »^&9 JrUUS the bow of our Lord, the

•' * * '* "v_ *

rainbow, for »>^o? 5&*° ; ^*X *•»«* the ear of a goat, for

$ 1 $ ' " HI

2*X3 5^4 . The ideas also conveyed by a large number of
our adjectives are expressed by 2a£a , in the construct state,
prefixed to a noun. Thus, 2'x*s 2a£b lord1 or possessor of
usefulness; faj&A^S* 2a£9 lord of wonder, i. e. wonderful;

f m Z * !*%• I*

7\ft»y, 2aJab lord of price, or valuabk. Compare the usage of
Anc. Syriac with 2 3J» , «A^3 , etc. 2aib is sometimes omit-
ted; e.g. iiL* 2^ya»f XLao2 $e road w (lord of) fear;

» $ Z * '

1** .7m>^, 2o?2 <Ais ts (fore? c/) price, i. e. dear.

As the emphatic state in Anc. Syriac gradually lost its
significance (Hoff. §109, 2), so in the Modern it has disap-
peared altogether ; or, rather, most nouns derived from the
Ancient have assumed the emphatic form as their only form,
thus virtually annihilating it. Thus, we have now only

i'iaf , k.OA-S.ao , etc. So, too, the plurals l&f and ^.OA.Vx) ,

• * ' • * * •• *• •' • ' •' '

the latter being in Koordistan feuxaAaa .

DERIVATION OF NOUNS.

The great majority of purely Syriac nouns in the modern
language are derived from the ancient form of the verb, and
have continued in use from early times, without any material

change. Such cases as the modern 2J>fx£ for the ancient
>LAf9J^, need no explanation. As this subject of deriva-
tion has been fully discussed by Hoffman, §§ 87, 88, it will
be sumcient, here, to speak of it as affecting directly the
signification of nouns.

Derivation from Nouns and Adjectives.

1. Patrial Nouns. — These are formed from names of dis-
tricts, countries, etc., by changing the termination into jli
or "]L ' ; or, in case the word ends in a consonant, by adding

119

one of these terminations ; Zli is the most common of them.
Examples are Juab,i^, an inhabitant of Grawar, from aftXj
Zkiioflk—X an inhabitant ofTekhoma, from JloOu**X; Xti/BCO

' • * *lf *4 ' '

a Russian, from JOOd ; X*^*^ an inhabitant of Tiary, from
latJy ; J-bgkiCf a Hindoo, from ftACf , or, better, the ancient
oaacf. See the same mode of formation in the ancient
language (Hoff. § 89, 2).

2. Diminutive Nouns. — These are formed by changing the
termination of the noun into i*o , as in the ancient language.
Thus, from 2-** a boy, we have feOA.* a little boy ; from JLX0
a priest, XiOJLB (a term of some disrespect) a priestling ;
from iSJCt) a?^ oZa7 man, ViOACD a grandfather (literally, a lit-

* ft * ',!*'*

tie old man) ; from JA3 a father, Z&OA3 a little father. So
a fo'WZe swfer, 5^AO*Va»3 a ZiwZe wi/e. iiOu<*2 and
, which in Anc. Syriac denote, respectively, a Zi^fe
brother, and a Z/^Ze son, have now lost their signification, and
are the most common terms for brother and son. The di-
minutive terminations JXBO , MOJDO , 2&&&O , seem now to

/ ii it

have become obsolete.

3. Abstract Nouns. — These are formed in a great number
of cases from concrete nouns by changing the termination
into Jjjjft ; e. g. from 230J«0 a witness, J^jftloJ/D testimony •

an artificer, ^ftfkSjft/DOl mechanical skill ; from

', I '

a physician, J^AMuAOf s/a7Z m medicine, or the prac-
tice of medicine. Sometimes the termination is changed into
55«flb* , or, where the word ends in a consonant, this is added.
Thus, from ^&&& an enemy, ^A*iiflkift enmity; from 2£o4U»

a relative, 2£*Ou&JL» relationship. ibaoJS forms its deriva-
' " . ••' .' •

tive in correspondence with P13^* viz-

120
NOTE. — Sometimes these abstracts are derived from other parts of

' ? £

speech ; e. g. from %SOA how much, fe <V»fraa ; from
opposite,

This general mode of deriving abstract nouns is probably
admissible in a much greater number of words in the Mod-
ern than in the Ancient Syriac, and is of great value for the
introduction of new terms.

In a very few cases, nouns of this termination are not
abstract. Thus, 5^AiJ* a loom. Compare the same word
in the ancient language, denoting a shop.

Adjectives are changed in a similar manner into abstract
nouns. Thus, from lAQA^great, we have xgMlQu^greatness ;
from 299£9 courageous, ^A39t^B courage; from >bo3 high,
^dfrSoa hti'jhi, etc.

Verbal Nouns.

A noun expressing the agent is in many cases formed
from regular verbs of three radicals, whether of the first or
second class, transitive or intransitive, by giving the first

radical — , or -'- when the root has -'- and adding J* * for
the termination. Take, for example, the transitive verb
httaa of the first class, meaning, to hold. From this we
have ZiA3i a holder, or one who holds. Take the transi-
tive verb *35J^ of the second class, denoting to tempt. By

" * * * • 4*

the same mode of formation we have IvaaJk. a tempter.

When the verb is not transitive, the derived word partakes
rather of the nature of an adjective than of a noun ; e; g. from
9^.3 to be or become lean, we have M 3*^51 apt to become lean.

From 4^0? to sleep, comes 3v*V*oa one who sleeps. This may

^>i/ * •

be used in construction with or without a noun ; e. g.
3i V"*f X**2 X» 0 sleeping man! or, without a noun to

• »*• ' 4* •* * * t

agree with it, 29AO <XX^ 7 1 Vlfla a sleeper in the grave.

121

When a noun is derived from a verb used in both the first
and second classes with different significations, the connec-
tion only can determine the meaning of the derivative. Thus,
£***, when conjugated according to the first class, means
to squeeze, to escape ; and according to the second class, to save.
The derivative JA^JW* may mean either a squeezer, one who
escapes, or a deliverer.

In the ancient language, derivatives of this form and

* * *
termination have often an abstract signification, as M9t92

destruction; but this is rarely, if ever, the case in the modern.
Zi-a^X, from 2&X to rain, is, however, sometimes used as
equivalent to 2aJ^bo ram; e. g. &£* 2cTl X*2 Z'i-x^. Z'aa
there is much rain this year. There may be other examples
of this kind.

When the verb is not a regular one, the derivative is in
some cases slightly different from the forms given above.
In verbs with medial I or .> , as Jti£ , we have * for the

second radical, and the derived noun is Z*JL*£ . a2a has
* •* $ "*

X»a2» in Koordistan. In verbs with medial X , the deriva-
tive may be either regular, as Ziu^, from ^^\, or irreg-
ular, as %'u*£Sq . In verbs with final 2 , - takes the place
of 2, and the derivative is the same in form, whether the
verb be of the first or of the second class. Thus from 2aa we
have &**?, and from l^JS), second class, Zl*Axo. Verbs
with final X are generally regular in forming the derivative,

when of the first class ; but when of the second class, as

hS.^0^ to assemble, the derivative retains the — . We thus

" '* ', * *' . t',

have ZuVaaV.. The derivative of the irregular verb 7^V

( « n, ',','*',

or Xft^Vy may be regular, but as spoken is ?i>VftS^,.
and similar verbs are very regular; e. g. Zi*»ttBC7.

and verbs which are inflected like it take - ; e. g.

. 16

122

& ; Ic&ao makes &0£t*> , J-b» makes

» (' • i i ,' i i

makes i»oiao , t&flbo makes ZJXdba.

HI II I II I II I

It should be mentioned that these nouns, nearly or quite
all, form a feminine in 2x ; e. g. iL*xd , fea.>XB . The dis-
tinction may be kept up in the plural. For instance, ZsJSLb
males who read, V^aLD females who read. But this is not
the common usage.

Care must be taken not to confound &M>V£ a worker,
•with ZW>>4 work ; JaaJSLJ^ o??e w/io commands, with Zi

•

a commandment; ^kd.V.S owe w;7io saves, with Xi£3O£ salva-

5 %± 4 ' £ <j 4. ' £ 2 ^

^b?j; ZiAV » a learner, with Zva^CL» learning ; M^JJL* a
burner, or one w/*o burns, with JAXflL y^eZ, etc.

The noun expressing the agent is occasionally formed by
giving -^- to each radical and adding a terminal 2 . Thus,

from 9£0f to sing, is formed 2aJ»f a singer; from t^a^X. to
« i"

orazo7, ? \\!V\, a braider ; from ?e— fo reap, 2?^-* a reaper;
from 9b^u* to ^, 2aJ3u* a digger. These nouns do not al-
low -',- with their first radical, as sometimes in the Ancient
Syriac (Hoff. § 87, 11). They differ from those terminating
in i*' by denoting the habitual action or condition of the
agent. Thus AMk&o^ may mean, simply, one who sings on a
particular occasion ; while 29£0f denotes one who makes
singing to some extent his business. Many verbs allow
either form of derivative.

Sometimes the noun denoting the agent is formed by in-
serting o between the second and third radicals, and giving
the first and last radicals -^-, with a terminal 2 . Thus we
have, from iSiV^H to kill, ,7 \ft\yl1 a murderer ; KiftVy^ a
slapjack, from "*\>^ to be broad; XO*9^ a saviour, from

Xa to save; ZAOXd a crower, a cock, from 2x0 to call.

128

No one verb, so far as recollected, admits of both the
forms last given, although we find in Anc. Syriac 2'SkSbf and
laoJMf . This indeed is unnecessary, as, if both forms ex-
isted, each would be the synonym of the other.

These two kinds of derivatives in the modern language
never have an abstract signification, and Hoffman, § 87, 12,
probably is mistaken in saying that they have in the ancient,

quoting TOAQX^ , etc., in proof of it We, however, translate
htOrOpoS? by CJOOjft^l in Acts 7 : 10, as there is here
little, if any, practical difference between distressers and dis-
tresses. The form with O does not, in the modern, take -f-
with its first radical ; nor is there any such distinction as in
the ancient between 2aoA»» a father, and 2aOu>>* a child.

Following the general analogy of the ancient language
(Hoff. 87, 3), the modern forms many abstracts, from regu-
lar verbs of the first class, by giving the second radical -?-
and adding 2 ' for the masculine and 2X for the feminine
termination. Thus, from AJ»£ to split, we have XASLa ,
2^A&d splitting; from >0jM^ to cut> 2-*>*^> 5s^°^ cutting ;
from £UJQ> to plunder, JLSUJPO, fcJUJJCD , plundering. Some
verbs use either of these forms indifferently; as XflJtX,
3$JUtX perishing, destruction, from wtJL^X to perish; but one
or the other is generally preferred. Thus, from *&iJ4 to
fight, we have i*J» fighting, but very rarely 2x*Jk£ ; from
abSlXt to marry, 2'aJsX. marrying, but not so often 2KadlVh .

It is to be noted that, while the signification of the mascu-
line and feminine forms, standing by themselves, is nearly or
quite the same, their construction with other words is some-
what different. Thus, 2?&L 2& Xd and i*»a 3^*VX la
convey the same idea, viz., for drinking water ; and yet
J-Tli and 3^"*"* cannot be interchanged in these expres-
sions without doing violence to the idiom of the language.

124

In all cases the masculine form is the same with the infin-
itive after it has lost its prefix. Thus we have, from AJ».*
to learn, ZAiA ; from >Vfrai3C to hear, Z^aoCC, , etc. A care-

ful examination of the various uses of this derivative, which
will be explained in the Syntax, leads us to suppose that it
is properly the infinitive itself.

NOTE. — This form is evidently traceable to the ancient infinitive.
Schultens and some other grammarians speak of the ancient infinitive
as taking this form (Hoff., p. 172, foot-note 2), which, if true, may
throw light on the question. Moreover, this form is used in trans-

lating such expressions as VljAa >VSaa (modern >u^a ?\A* ),

V «i • "'."..'" . "

where >i>*»ift> is of course the infinitive. The infinitive is used in a
i it

way similar to the so-called verbal nouns in Turkish and Persian,
which languages may be supposed to have exerted some, though
perhaps slight, influence in moulding the Modern Syriac verb ; e. g.

«^bA2 UMMA&2 for drinking (Turkish) ; ^S $ t^-} for doing
business (Persian). This will be farther discussed in the Syntax.

From verbs of the second class, an abstract noun is formed,
which, when regular, takes -£- (or -)- when the root has -J-)
on the first radical, and -7- on the second radical (unless * fol-
lows, when the vowel is -^-), with the termination 2x . The
derivative is of course feminine ; e. g. from tfl^X to de-

J A I £ tf

stroy is formed fe»BL^X the act of destroying ; while, as above,
fejJU^X , from bBL^X to perish, signifies the consequences of
the act, i. e. destruction. From wOxS to save, to complete, is
formed 2Nflx3 the act of completing or saving ; while
from JBlxS to finish, denotes simply the end. From
we have ^£0fttt07 ; from 2iPXH , 2^£axa ; from

,
from %&JD , ^*SJD ; from iV^fti^ to assemble (tr.Y

|i a IT,

; from la^e, Js-a^i); froini-^9, 3^i» ; from

f I I I1 I I

s-CJJ^a . iJ»3o5-* also, in this, conforms to verbs

•' ' ' "

of the second class, and makes

125

NOUNS FBOM FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

So many words have been introduced into Modern Syriac
from the Turkish and Persian, the latter being often intro-
duced through the Koordish, that at least an allusion should
be made to them. Among these are nouns with the Turk-
ish termination »*A ( ^Y denoting the agent or worker; e.g.

• •* '**-*' m'*. t I

t*A3O£99 a blacksmith, from ftO»ma iron; u£h£ba&9 a shoe-

1 * f I ',m ', ' * ' ',• ',

maker, from hftitaXSI a shoe; n>^3Jk a mediator, from i!XX

» , 1 1. i

an interval; n>*X >O>!kft a combatant, from wQtXA a contest.

* * ' * • * .•. ' ' •*

So, too, with the Persian termination a^ ( .IJsT) ; e. g. 9J

x- > •'••"*''<

a/i artificer, from d2\JQDO2 a master workman; Bb^>3

$ $ ' • * * i

e'fewi, from Z3OX repentance ; ObdoUOJ^ a criminal, from »U^

a crime. Both these classes are employed as if genuine
Syriac nouns, and may form abstracts in 5^B . Thus, we
have 2^0u&ao£9& the business of a blacksmith ; fe.Oxa>3OX
repentance, etc.

We find also occasionally the Persian termination M ( b),
denoting the keeper or possessor ; e. g. abj.i*U» a treasurer,
from JiiU* or ji-*-* treasure; a*Xj»,dL^ a mse maw, from

V * '. '•*'.'* " .' •

>»xflLX wisdom ; a%tea>i> a merciful man, from ^ixa mercy.

As in Persian and Turkish, the termination *^UC9 ((•jbOw)
signifies joZace. Thus, %^Lttd(9& Arabia; ^^UCDOaaof India;

* 4. •' «4 " i * a

^Cft^iTb.S Europe, or the place of the Franks.
So too we find the Persian termination «\a (nb), signify-

* i* S * ' ', $ I

mg a vessel; as ^'XSWD a pen-case, *fr+& a tea-pot, »?Xoc%O

'* »

a coffee-pot, etc.

There are other terminations more rarely heard, as in
9kX.3f a goldsmith; S^iiOiSAoi a nc/i man; ^31^.3 a garden-

'L , i ' ' , * *" i

er ; a^X« (Turkish) a native, from

Perhaps it is not strange that in some instances the pre-
ceding terminations should be connected with purely Syriac

126

words, as they are sufficiently numerous in the spoken lan-
guage to create a habit of annexing them without discrim-
ination. The following is an example : u'WuiV a miller,

•* * 4* ' *

instead of >v**Jy .

The Persian words b not, and _j without, when prefixed

to nouns and adjectives derived from that language, retain

• <
their original signification; e.g. JCdOn* M not well, unwell;

SO? J3 boundless.
i i'

NOTE 1. — It will be seen that, in some of the preceding termina-
tions, 2 has been dropped, as not being sounded in Syriac. ^ has

also generally been written i3 rather than **3 .

J •• i

NOTE 2. — While many words taken from the Persian, Turkish,
and perhaps other languages, have been barbarously mangled, some
changes are made in them in accordance with the genius of the
Syriac. Such are : 1st. The lengthening of the penult, which has

' £i *

always the accent ; e. g. \^ML& grace, Syriac friBUaLX . 2nd. The

adding of 2 as a termination ; e. g. ^vStX a picture, from the Per-
sian JjCii . 3rd. The euphonic changes of a vowel in consequence
of this termination ; e. g. jA\JQSk3 a melon- field, instead of ,j\JtD<X3 .
4th. The substitution of ^ for the f- sound wherever it occurs.

NOTE 3. — Notwithstanding the multitude of foreign v/ords intro-
duced into Modern Syriac (of which many more are nouns than
verbs, as is the case in the ancient language, and as we should
naturally expect), it is worthy of remark that the language has pre-
served in a good degree its identity, and its own grammatical struc-
ture. There are indeed cases where, for instance, the Turkish per-
fect participle is dragged bodily into a Syriac sentence. Thus,

2JkOC7 tXJO^ft^ he became injured. So, too, the Persian vi>w*o6

,i ,i « i V _ //

there is not, which the Nestorians use to express annihilation ; e. g.

JL^OC? &J&*1 he became annihilated, or he vanished. These liber-
,i ,• /

ties, however, are not very common ; and it may safely be affirmed
that the Modem Syriac has in this respect fared better than the An-
cient did at one period, from the influx of Greek idioms. We never
find such a mingling of languages, to take an example from Sir
William Jones, as " The true lex is recta ratio, conformable naturae,
which, by commanding, vocet ad officium, by forbidding, a fraude
deterreat."

127

NOTE 4. — We have been obliged to introduce a number of words
from the English. We, however, first draw on the Modern Syriac,
so far as in the current meaning of its words, or by accommodation,
it will serve our purpose. In case we meet with difficulty there, we
go to the Ancient, which has been very useful in furnishing us with
scientific and other terms ; next, to the Persian or Turkish, the
former having the preference, as being by far the more cultivated of
the two ; and, last of all, to our own language. If this is not always
the rule, it always ought to be.

COMPOSITION OF NOUNS.

The Modern Syriac, like the Ancient and the Hebrew,
does not favonthe extensive use of compound words. The
influence which the study of the Greek by the Nestorians
had on their language has long since passed away; and
though some of the compounds formed in imitation of the
Greek are still retained, there is no tendency to increase the
number. As examples of the compound nouns now in use

may be mentioned, 3 VhAsaaA^ ivory; Z&LdXixa an echo, lit-
erally the daughter of the voice ; /L^a^dC&J a thimble, literally
the daughter of 'the finger ; £&&>&&£ black-faced, i.e. guilty;
3j^SaQb*» white-faced, i. e. innocent. Compound nouns and
adjectives have also been introduced somewhat from other

i m m < > I , I

languages ; e. g. £^&3X9 bad color; 907&JD a boundary; and
a cellar; all of which are from the Persian.

ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives undergo a change of termination, correspond-
ing with, the change of gender and number.

GENDEE.

Adjectives which are purely Syriac, and indeed nearly all
which end in 2', form the feminine singular by changing this
termination into 2X ; e. g. 2 SwA* beautiful, the feminine of
which is IxSufLs, ; 2 a 0X9 small, feminine

128

A few adjectives ending in 2' form their feminine by
changing 2 ' into 2 ( . Thus, we have 2'xi , feminine
blind, feminine 29Od ; j^kiA dumb, feminine

bold, feminine 2»9£0 ; Z*CL~f energetic, fern.

(i i i i

See what is said of )L»a{ , etc., where the gender of nouns
is treated of.

The masculine and feminine plural are the same.

NUMBER.

The plural of adjectives is generally formed, like that of
regular nouns, by changing the vowel — of the last syllable
into — , and writing the two dots called s'amee above the
word.

There are some adjectives which do not admit of varia-

tion, either as regards gender or number; such as uuJ£-

L* *' * 4 * '

good, *V&33 late, f Ol straight, AVo necessary or proper,

t t f/7,

etc. These are usually borrowed from other languages, and
do not end in 2 '.

CASE.

Adjectives in Modern Syriac undergo no change of case.
COM P ARISON.

Adjectives are not compared by a change of termination,
as in English, Persian, and many other languages. To ex-
press in Modern Syriac the idea: "This is larger than that,"

4. s ^m A. * # ^

we use the phrase iX* IsPJ^OCfa ^0 2of2 this from that is
great. " That is smaller than this," is expressed by the words

Z^»- IftOX f 2cua k!D OOf, the literal translation of which is
.•

that from this is small; ^p being used like than in English,
as in other Shemitish languages.

A comparison is also frequently made by prefixing »X3
or JLOb3 to the adjective, when the idea is that of excess; as

* 4* * t *

>7.»\>iM it ft,*1 2*2 / am stronger than thou. So

129

r and a-X* in Anc. Syr., and Tn*1n rarely in Hebrew.

The superlative degree is expressed in several different
methods :

1. By the article prefixed, when the connection shows
what is intended. Thus, in speaking of a family, we may

4 * ''* ' *

say i*--* OC7 larOtXf OC7 he is the small one. i. e. the small-

»• i

est. Compare the Hebrew (Nordh. § 790). In the Ancient
Syriac, even the article or pronoun may be dispensed with.
See 1 Sam. 16 : 11, Gen. 42 : 13. So also rarely in the Mod-
ern, as Matt. 22 : 36.

2. By the use of kJ«A , M&* , or t*&^9 ; e. g. oof u&A ^a
>Likrf M*S£ he is the best of them, literally, from all of them he
is good. So for uAA we may substitute «kA , or for *AA ^0 ,

5 L s ^ • 5 *

»\**!» ; e. g. Z>N* uutdp OOf t*V& from them he id good. This,

it will be seen, is properly the comparative form. See an-
cient usage in Matt. 13 : 32.

8. The superlative is sometimes formed, as in the cognate

languages, when a word is repeated and put into what we

.» >

may call the genitive plural ; e. g. ixso«d iXoxtf Holy of

i i m,i >' ' f .f , , .f ,

holies; 2*dftX i*MX heaven of heavens; ^OkV.AA ^XjA (anc.

M/ i i i i

servant of servants; ? S> V'na ?!%!>*•> (ancient

,. i * i ^

) King of kings.
4. A kind of superlative is formed by adding ^DLA or iaa>

* ' * ' '* *i "*•

to the positive ; e. g. ZJ3U? "jata or tOLft 23 a very minute.

t //T, 9

Sometimes both are used together, to increase the intensity ;

$ t $ m$

e. g. XflL** Z2fi ^BLA exceedingly minute.

BEBIVATION OF ADJBG'TIVES.

1. Adjectives are formed by changing the final 2 'of nouns
into M', or, when they do not end in 2', by adding J* ;

* •* ' j* ' '' * ', mm

e. g. iiaoWl bright, from 2.&CJ3 light; ZuiO watery, from Z*!&

* 4. 2 ' ' 45 * ' ^2 t * t '

poiverful, from JJk*— power ; Zv9df might//,

130

from £3? might; Uf ok cfasfy, from fok cfosi!. This class
of adjectives is very numerous.

2. They are formed by changing the termination 2 into
2 or Z»i ; e. g. from iv*X peace, ltl+3. peaceful; from ^>»T
heaven, £*&*&X& heavenly ; from ^Xd2 earfA, ?>l\a2 earthly.

3. They are formed by changing the termination of
adjectives into i'*i. Thus, from XdOkifltKD rec?, we have

from iSDOA ifacfr, ?ii*na^ blackish.

4. Diminutives, which are often terms of endearment, are
formed from adjectives in the same way as from nouns; e. g.
ZioaoXf , from 2aoXf small; MOaAx, used as a noun,

' ',m -4 * ' « " '

/Me beauty, from 2au>3JC beautiful; JAOudL .a , from WX-?
minute, etc.

5. A great number of perfect participles, belonging to
intransitive verbs of the first class, are used as adjectives in
both genders and numbers : ?JteuSVcD decayed, from

to decay ; ^>VVP s<r&, from iXaibO to sicken, be sick ;

//,,«» , //

;, stubborn, from iXd to ie fAzcA:, stubborn ; i*A» £>wre, from

54 'i *

to Z>e or become pure ; %t\** sweet, from Jj>^ to ie or
become sweet. So is it in Anc. Syr. to a more limited extent
(Hoff.§87, 10).

Sometimes the adjective is distinguished from the partici-
ple by taking ±- over its first radical ; e. g. 2 9b*^9 lean,
from a>^3 to be or become lean ; while the participle is 29w>^9 ;
?ifrffc>fl>'a pleasant, from frlflttJ to be pleasing to ; the parti-
ciple is ,lat>>ftL3 ; 2JX*aa>' soft, from ^2& to be or become soft;

participle ?a»aa ; 7V»\S idk or vain, from ^ V^ to ^e
or become idle or vain; participle ?T>»y,i*1. Compare, in
Anc. Syr., 2-M*^a and

131

In both these classes of verbal adjectives, the signification

sometimes differs from that of the root ; e. g. l^»>a , which

$ •

often means slow, from M»A& to rest, be quiet.

6. Adjectives denoting quality are formed from verbs,
just as one class of nouns denoting the agent, by inserting

o between the second and third radicals and giving — to
the first and last ; e. g. iSaXi* apt to learn, from A^J to

,t > mi 4. '* •* '• * "

learn; JVyft ••* sioijt, from >\ »a to run ; J3Oxa passion-

• m ' " ? ' £

«te, from *axft to 5e or become angry ; I^OJttu* sowr, from

* " ?• ' * • *

w«Vlu* to 6e or become sour ; 1&O04 skittish, from 9O4 to 6e or

-V « w »•

become skittish.

The same word is frequently used both as a noun and an
adjective; but this gives rise to no new forms, and it is easy
to know in a particular case whether the word is used as an
adjective, by the connection.

NUMERALS.

1. Cardinals. — These are so nearly like the cardinals of
the ancient language, that they may be readily recognised.
A list of them is given below, as they are used in Oroo-
miah, and printed in our books.

I** one. !XCBLfr»xJ« eleven.

I II I

•* ' ' 4. '

two. QkAUtdX twelve.

i a

three. 9JCAXX&X thirteen.

four.

five.

six.

seven.

eight.

nine.

ten.

fourteen.
iii

9bJCt3^X^OuL fifteen.
iii

9JQ&XTLX2 sixteen.
seventeen.
eighteen.
nineteen.
twenty.

twenty-one.

I H

h*Xfi&£t twenty-two.
thirty.
forty.
fifty.
sixty.

seventy.
eighty.

ninety.
i, H

22d9 one hundred.

132

two hundred. 22*0*^3Ut seven hundred.

•• i

22*0 jS.^ three hundred. 22*0 2^*0^ eight hundred.

22*M*3a2 four hundred. 22*0 ?*-v nine hundred.

i i t, n

23»*0u* five hundred. 2£^2 one thousand.

six hundred.

XOTE. — In the mountains of Koordistan the cardinals still more
closely resemble those anciently used. From one to ten inclusive
they have both the masculine and feminine genders; and in some of
them, the same apparent anomaly exists as in the Ancient Syriac
and the Hebrew (Hotf. § 99, 1, and Nordh. § 611), of masculine
numerals joined with feminine nouns, and feminine numerals with
masculine nouns. A few are given as a specimen :

Fern. Masc. Fern. Masc.

151 m 2m

^tt # L$ A. Z 4 •' ?

The expressions u*ail3 U* , ,'?V\i*1 J— , iJkaa23 Xw , etc.,

like k*aiX3x^», 5^Vl3aJ*, etc.. in Anc. Syr., denote, re-
v i' • i / . » <

spectively, double, triple, quadruple, etc. So we have also
2acf wSiX ^ice as much; 2dCf ? V^, /7^-fe ftmes as much.

*&\ k*o 2-» , 2^X K*O ^L , 2^3a2 po ^ . etc., denote the
v» 'v» iv« j.

fractions one ^a?/J one third, one fourth, etc. The words 5^^ ON ,
* • '

i^joa , etc., seem to have become obsolete.

The Modern Syriac uses the Persian word 2oV^(»Li') time,
to express once, twice, thrice, etc. Thus, 2o^X,.i*», 2c(Jk>b*ftN.,

2c^V. ? vV , just as we find ^3f in the Ancient Syriac.

'' & ' 4.* *' *

Sometimes the word £L02 a j^o^, is used ; e. g. 2^Cl2 2-M ,

XL02 h-ax. So in Hebrew Dnp5"l- So, too, T/'Vb ( j*«)

133

a journey ; e. g. ujASaft MuJ& — kuJBP 2of2 , this time (lite-
rally journey) I slept well The Persian word &JXA (o"^) is
sometimes used in the same way.

NOTE. — It has been supposed that the ahove mentioned use of the
word foot in these languages is derived from the beat of the foot in
music. This is probably a mistake. It is applied to travelling, and
not to other things. Thus, we may say " I came two feet," i. e. two
times; but not "I read two feet." So in the Turkish, they say "I

came two roads," with the same signification. aJaJQD, as noted
above, is used in a more extended sense.

The cardinals also take suffixes; as, for example,
or «!*UoaX both of us ; ^oiooax. .o^oVuobx both of

you; k-OiX, iniOaX both of them; U(V\\^ all three of

us; ^^AOTUOi VT^, all three of you; ua\A<VV^ all three of

them. Similar forms are used up to 29U(&bt , inclusive, and
are nearly the same in Oroomiah and Koordistan. It may
be remarked here that all of us is expressed by phA or
Jfcuo^a ; all of you, by »jftaftSo , fc oooVuaAo , etc.

Distributives, as in Anc. Syr., are formed by a repetition
of the cardinal numbers ; e. g. u»3N, w*SX two by two, etc.,
though they are now often connected with 3, as, tJft&a k-a'x.
So in Hebrew (Nordh. § 947).

2. Ordinals. — The original termination, which, added to
the cardinal, made it an ordinal, has been lost in Oroomiah,
with a single exception. This is %'*JAU masc., fe^ibxD fern.,
denoting first. Sometimes we use others, as in the gram.
term 2-»TL*^X JLf^o^x^ third person; but they are taken
from the ancient rather than from the current usage. The
other ordinals are formed by prefixing 3 to the cardinal.
Thus, 1&\* 2^9 the third village; 23JQ&X? ji^SJ^//^ tenth
line. This was also used in the ancient language : Matt.
16: 21.

134

The names of the days of the week are as follows :

Sunday. jLai.Oilf Vfc »'> Thursday.
ft

Monday. J^SoSbX Friday.

Tuesday. JjAX Saturday.

Wednesday.

In Koordistan, Tuesday is
the other days are the same.

The names of

ADVERBS.

The ancient termination

of adverbs is still occasion-

ally retained in our books, and is heard more or less in
Koordistan, but is not at all used in common conversation
in Oroomiah. Many of the adverbs and adverbial expres-
sions given below are identical with those in the Ancient
Syriac, while many others are of more recent origin, or
borrowed from other languages. An attempt is made to
classify them ; but such an attempt must always be some-
what unsatisfactory, as the same adverb in one connection
may be an adverb of place, in another, of time, etc.

M. signifies that the adverb is used only in the mountains ;
p., that it is of Persian, T., that it is of Turkish, and K., that
it is of Koordish, origin ; A., that it is from the Ancient Sy-
riac ; Ar., that it is from the Arabic. As might be expected,
many of these have been modified and corrupted.

1. Adverbs of Place and Order.

where ? where.
A. whither? whither.

whence ? whence.

here.
A. hither, here.

hence.

below, beneath.

downwards.
A. behind.
B>*\*1\ A. backwards.
A. within.
A. this way.

135

A. that way.
A. without
up, above.

upwards.
A. in the midst
A. near.
A. before.
A. forwards.

2. Adverbs of Time.

•V^A>

now.

until now.
henceforth.

henceforth. 2acf ai\3
before now. 2aCT az\3
A. to-day,
then.

from that time.

* « ( (t If a) then, there-
^* ' upon.

A. to-night
when? when,
how long ?

(a* vulgarly ipoken)

'x ; >A. at what time?

136

p. never, ever.
A. until.

P'\nyei
first

p. always.

while, while
as yet

there he is.

1* ' 1

23— a little (time).

* ' -C'' i

*>>•• 9f\S presently.

t, i i J

Z-M I A. & p. sometimes.
M» sometimes.
A. at last

A. | h(7 often' M ila2 *LO K» before now.
( often. T* "

J^y^^k l^flL^^ A & T* i i Z^A^fl^Cf A B,t first

at first
u
before now.

^>x AJI6?!!^'

(morning).
A. before.

before,
before.

jl j when, while,
A' ( etc.

M. a little (while),
at dawn.

3. Adverbs of Manner and Quality.

A. especially.
i1 «

?V »O2 so much.

T. topsy-turvy.
A. also.
T. (hand by hand) quickly.

only.

p. finally, in a word.
A. more, again.
M. more, again.
A. as, like as.

137

T. only.

(wnen one 'IS called)

here I am.
i then, now then,
'\ therefore.

AS , AA3 p. more.

P. doubtless.
T. scarcely.
p. perhaps.
K.M. freely.

i '

Z/&3 p. enough.
i

3*3*3

, , IP. together.

how ? like as.
>ft T. evenly, correctly.

*UQ9Oftft p. truly.
2 Of A. yes
p. in vain,
p. quietly, gently.
2 ft 0/1 so, thus,
so much,
so, thus.

so much,
certainly (vul-

»f* garly^^Of).
/ i

p. at all, not at all.
VOL. r. 18

p. also.

K.M. so many.

P. easily.

K.M. in vain, freely.

ft OT P. exactly.
i

so, thus.

. f, ',

2 ft Of p. more.

K.M. certainly.
A. at last
A. at last

2ft£t** I together.

.''.' >*-
Ijt^f^O I together.

•i

T. freely, in vain.

a little.

a very little.
p. in short.

let it not be so.

let it not be so.
A. badly.
M. why?

A. would that.

• ( yes (to a question
, ( put negatively).

p. certainly, truly.

* i 7

j\ Vn> p. to wit, namely.

138

K. quite, completely,
not

quite, completely.

j how much, how
A' | many ?
A. no, not

let it be so.
p. truly,
p. unless.
A. verily.

M. how ? how.
( together (vulgar

\vliv '

AT. hard.

M. quite.
i

*Vfl Ar. never, not at all.

peradventure.
A. much.
P. with ease,
p. perfectly,
p. A. after a sort
T. would that

truly.

A-

in truth.

p. about, nearly.

Remarks.

The preceding list of adverbs and adverbial expressions might no
doubt be extended, especially by noting down adjectives used in an

adverbial sense, such as .7 \0>Vd lightly, 2dObdL heavily, etc. On

the other hand, there are no doubt words in the preceding list which
are not adverbs, and which are classed here, partly for convenience,
and partly because other grammarians have placed them here. In-
deed, without a most careful attention to derivation, one can hardly
arrive at certainty on this point. We should not criticise a Latin
grammarian for calling utinam an adverb, but we should hardly

consider the corresponding would that as an adverb. The ancient

s
tftu* (Dnfi) is no doubt a verb, and yet, as at present used, partakes

more of the nature of an adverb. It is spoken, as given above,

quietly,
very quietly.

t 9 J

Zlxtt A. badly, ill.
K. well.

139

As to the derivation of these adverbs, it is by no means certain
that they are all referred to the right source, and it would occupy
much space if each one were to be discussed individually ; a few
only will be alluded to.

* ' * V * V

In the modern lang., we find iAl , 7 S7 \ ; in the ancient, ,?S>\ .

• i • i •

In Koordistan, we often hear iiOf ?.3»*\ just here; with which com-

', * • i' * i

pare JiC? OCf (is ipae), etc., in the ancient (Hoft'. § 45, Annot. 5).

Again, in the modern, we find tt%*t\ ; in the ancient, *X5K\ ; in

the modern, ^OAA^. ; in the ancient, tjA^ . i-?2 is in some

ii ', ', " '*

parts of Koordistan pronounced 2oj«*?2, which probably throws

light on its derivation. Ow32, ? >oA 32 may be Jibo*!* t*22. etc.,
i i // i* i i

h~32 being used with masculine as well as feminine nouns, as stated
previously. ^h*^ i§ no doubt 2cVX.i-*C7, a mongrel word, although
ioVV, is now pretty well naturalized in Syriac. In the modern, we

find hdOU»2 ; in the ancient, tJzXboI . In the modern we find ZXauSI ;

• ', .• t • i " ,<

in the ancient, Z&^O^ TX*3 . We also now hear occasionally

9 and 3-X^O might perhaps better be classed with verbs
than adverbs. «^b»O3 is regularly inflected in all the persons

and in both numbers, like »A-» / am. Thus, A\A*03 here thou

*^ " ' * V . " '

art; ii*O? here they are. Sometimes ? S.l\ is joined with it ; e. g.

lalS Ow_O^ /,,,;• he is. ZJ»-Q . referring always to distant ob-

• i , «i* *

jects, can be used only in the third person ; e. g. A^wO there she is;

ii-*O there they are. 4>?Cf is probably a corruption of 2aC7, and

2acf in its turn of »->3>'2, 2iCf this. ibbo>±J is probably from

* V— ' " '"

^l^H to happen. t\JO , etymologically speaking, should be written

with ^ ; but as the t is aspirated in some districts, it seems most
proper to use X .

It will of course be understood that these adverbs may many of

them be combined to form a new adverbial expression. Thus, &O1

t i * ' v '

until, and i>»*2 where, when combined ( X&*»2 <J>C7), denote until

i i i

where, i. e. how far ?

140

The Nestorians have no adverbs for almost, too much, too far, etc.
Almost is expressed by a circumlocution. Thus, if we wish to say
"he almost died," we use the phrase JjOCf *\ZSD3 ? i»3t S ?S» > , lit-
erally, a little remained that he should die. So if we wish to say

" too much," we say £UkO 2jL»3 k!a IdOf more than is necessary

H%. i " v •

or proper. Next, whether an adjective or adverb, is expressed indi-
rectly, some additional words being supplied to give definiteness to
the meaning. In hearing a class recite, if we wish to call on the

next, we say ^&ix«*2 OOT that other. Next week is ii*\2a yfcXX
the coming week. Last week is 23*21X3 ^JLX the week that (just)
passed. In the same way we can express last month, last year, etc. ;

though for the latter there is the word il^O>3 .

i< i i

Some of these adverbs in common conversation are abbreviated,
as is the case with words in all languages. Thus, iX-> 7^> >2 where
is he? becomes iX- la . 2a*\3& X*?>bO henceforth (literally,

from now to after it) becomes 2a>rl3L^s2SO . So too, ?V ?*•*
• LS * ^ '* '

29>*IT3L\ thenceforth (literally, from then to after it). These might

with propriety be written with final C7 .

A word of explanation is necessary in regard to the adverbial ex-
pressions aijfV3t\ and 'pLtX.^ . 9iXi9 and /BUB are properly prepo-
sitions, and have the suffix-pronouns connected with them. Thus,
to express the idea "I am going backwards," we should say
Lryn«4\. ^Q^ 22»fjL9, literally, I am going towards after me, i. e.

I II l' , »^ ', If , Lf ',

backwards. So we say AftaI\3L^ ^^* Z^f Z3 / am going towards

^' " •' $

after you. The usage is the same in regard to ^3L0 . It is only

when the nominative and the suffix-pronoun refer to the same per-
son, that the expression can be called adverbial. Compare the use

-. • *

of >^£t0 and 9&JQ3L3 in the ancient language. (See John 18 : 6,

Lam. 1 : 8, Jer. 7 : 24, etc.). Instead of using the suffixes, we have
sometimes written ?1ftff\ and 23 jftAJk ; and these are heard more
or less among the people.

sometimes takes suffixes, as in the phrase

I l> •'

he got wet until his here, i. e. up to a place indicated by
1*1 t i i

the hand. So does jlflatl ; e. g. feOJQ&S enough for you.

i ' i i

141

PREPOSITIONS.

It will be sufficient in this sketch of Modern Syriac gram-
mar to give a list of the most common prepositions, and
expressions equivalent to the prepositions of other lan-
guages. They are as follows :

(ft)

according to.
.
according to.

equivalent to ftJLbO,
not much used).
A. around.

A. in, by means of, etc.
in bv etc.

A. along by.
,,
i j yi- along by.

p. without.

(ft)

A. in the midst of.
M. beside.

ft A. of.

t^m. -^

A^ft A. witliout.

f
(ft)£k£ft beside, by the side of.

A P \ agamst> °PP°S-

' ed to'
j *, I from (pronounced

about, con-
' .A. cerning.
(ft)>\ M XA3J for the sake of.

, between, in the
A. I midst of, includ-
( ino-.

(ft) >
(ft)

3 (concerning.
T. among.

A. until.
A. around.
M. for.
A< to>

towards.
towards, up to, near.

towards, up to, near.

J away from (French
I (Tavec).

•S<i *

ana ^aa

A. P. over against.

A* er"
P. except.
A" inside ofl

< to tjjg other sidei
A< from ^vu]g ^.^

Ar> instead,of.
P. except.

142

A. near.

A. instead of. ' „

before.

(9) A9UQ9 F. on account of. ^DLO ^SO j away from.

upon, etc. (9) JL9 A. about, in regard to.

j ' Soff from, away ^ jg^L except
J }from. v7

A. with. hbo BbAjl except

^ • **•

A. above. TLO^*X A. under.

« ii

(d) 3^hJ>3^(3) A. in the middle of. jCLO^X ^5O A. away from under.

lh for.

Remarks.

. * '

9,9, and ^ never, as in the ancient language (e. g. iiflJLa ,
f ' Zf
^i^ftt \ , etc.), take a vowel. Several prepositions are frequently

joined together, especially if one of them is ^IB . These prepositions,
in accordance wjth the analogy of the ancient language, receive
suffixes, and are also followed by the separable pronouns, as in the
expression OOT9 kbO wXOOd / asked from (of) him.

A number of the prepositions, when joined with nouns, require 9 f
j> , or ^9 after them, and may be considered in such cases as hav-
ing a doubtful claim to a place among prepositions. When they
take suffixes, however, these are dispensed with ; e. g. ?^*^*f
k^A£9aA /«? rose against us; JxVfr>T3 ^0^999 "AiCXO //(.

V I I I H * I * ,< II

rose against Simon. In the last example, 9 is required. Those
prepositions which occasionally thus employ 9, ^, or ^>9, have
one of these placed after them in a parenthesis in the above list.
is connected with its suffix by w9 as sliding letters ; e. g.

»9 YL&9 on our account. So '*ft^ and •*h's^ , by ^ : e. g.

V V

-frNflTi*-^ towards thee.

, etc., are often pronounced ullit, minit, etc. The
following is probably the explanation of it. The Ancient Syriac

143

idiom has been retained in the spoken language, though not intro-
duced into our books, by which the preposition takes a suffix and
S also ; e. g. £ttxX3 eutt quickly pronounced will be minit umma;

i^AX.<ft 07 S113 will be barit eshoo, etc. These remarks apply to

/ " i1
quite a number of the prepositions.

u>3 Z*3 and OVStl C^SSl are no doubt reduplications of the pre-
position k3 . Thus, we have in the ancient language, e. g.,

ova

Besides *9 Z*9, we have in the modern such expressions as

• ' > ' * 4 4 ' i* '

C?adO,X Z&ftX along with her, IXrf&X, JkX Zj>X along upon the
iii iii

A5' m'r it 2 ^ £

wall, 2»*OO3 O.V.X&X. a^on^ in the valley. With these compare

the ancient AA3L< ^3LX CftSfllX along with Jesus : and similar ex-

i i »' i

pressions. Compare also Hoff. § 123, 5, a, b.

jflA3 is possibly formed from 9 and 1 , as we still find in Koor-

' • '

distan an ancient form 9£92X9 in regard to what he said, equiva-

lent to the form used in Oroomiah, la£oZ XOJ3. If this supposi-

» •' " •

tion be correct, *\A3 should be written A&9 .

i * i

\*3 in Ancient Syriac is >*Ao3 , IXi*3 , or «l*9 . -^ ^ Ff*tL*T

ti< , i i* ' ' ' * ' * '' ' '

and t^ObOA!} , like i*-»2 , may be partly Syriac and partly Persian,

' ".•'•'' L-,

the prepositions 9J9 and a? being prefixed to jVlft.B of the An-
cient Syriac.

%JO takes its suffixes in so many ways, that they are worthy of
special notice. Thus, to express in Modern Syriac for me, we may
say h»Xd , Mt»aXB , uJkB , JlCVO and b*9h*sX0 . So, for thee,

^»XB, ^A-?ZJ3. ^A^D, qtkui, ^OS^aXO. The same
peculiarity is found in all persons and both numbers. In Koor-
distan, the people say MAJM^ , ^0\V^ , etc. ; in Bootan,
; near Mosul, iJ

144
CONJUNCTIONS.

p. if.

»-*OV3 A. in that, because. XttU*Ow

or.

A. also.

^ 2 i

>3^3 nevertheless. L*

either.

A. as.

*A&3 p. then, therefore. ?^!Oi^

p. because.

' fit.

but
A. but(«Aa.a).

("that, in order that; jL^w.
ft A. { (sometimes because, ^~f*^
[as John 4 : 22).

X*? A. that not, lest.

( yet, but
' ( yet

A. if.

* \*K*Hjy}
2ft T. also.

p. because.

A ( if not, un-

. i

' I less.

^tfOf p. also. ,- »

T. although.

A. although.

i ',
O A. and.

< for that, in
I order that

Ar.T.jbut,but

2f K. also.

INTERJECTIONS.

It should be understood that these interjections are not
all classical, and that some of them may be called vulgar.
But they are most of them in every-day use, and it is well
to be acquainted with them.

12 why, pretty well! tXlhush! ^007 push on!

* * '

07 2 not I ! Oh ! CV3 well done ! b»OM* tush !

_>!• i t* ' .> ', (bless, 0 God! . * ._

CT02 alas ! O^ka) (Ar.); (vulgar- ^ O !

• ' ' ( \y, well done!).

»-02woeisme! 2»JPU8h on!

f ' i away ! up ! rious inter-

M02 alas ! , *. , Wogative).

2Cf 2a away with you! ^^ well done ,

uw*o2 huzzah, hurrah ! ,* ' *

' h»A0 ah me ! --,« m M

' JBPOJCP silence !

«-2 O! ,* '

' I* wonderful! #& poh,

halloo! . *

2Cf behold!

Oh strange! , * ,

-icrho!

woe is me !

145

SYNTAX.

It is by no means proposed here to reduce to a complete
system the Syntax of the Modern Syriac ; but merely to
direct attention to some of its principal features. It may
be stated, in general, that the relations in which words stand
to each other are extremely simple, and present no serious
obstacle to the acquisition of the language. The Nestorians
rarely use long or involved sentences ; and, indeed, the de-
ficiency of their language in particles, compared with our
own, almost precludes their doing so. While the structure
of the language is thus unfitted for philosophical or mathe-
matical precision, it is in many respects an excellent lan-
guage for the business of every-day life, and we have no
reason to complain that, as spoken by educated natives, it
greatly lacks either dignity or force. It may also be added,
that, considering the scantiness of its vocabulary, we are
obliged to use circumlocutions less than would be expected.

THE ARTICLE.

It should be understood, as has been already intimated,
that there is no emphatic state of nouns in the Modern
Syriac, supplying in some degree the place of a definite
article. Indeed, multitudes of nouns have taken the em-
phatic state as their ordinary form, and there is a strong

tendency to suffix 2 ' to all nouns which are derived from
other languages ; e. g. Turkish [?] JJ', Modern Syriac JJ»A
a buffalo; Persian c^J-o, Modern Syriac V*1*8 curdled
milk; Arabic (.^^A) Modern Syriac fa&Ao&o poor.

In general, the pronouns OCT , w*0f and »li are used for
the definite article, but with far less latitude than H in He-
brew. They are also omitted in multitudes of cases where
the is employed in English ; e. g. * OOCf JioX &»? Zxil
were (the) men of (the) village there? ,lhf)0»3 lo^X. w»J»X two
times in (the) day ; uAjJafaJ^iuoaa ^du2 when (the) world

VOL. V. 19

146

tempt me; I 4k4x2 i?1*) whence came you ? *V »>1P kd9

^*i i' ; > v «

from (the) c% ; S 2-B>OJQE> TLol u*OTftVy\O^ Aa^e T/OM brought
him out (the) Aorse F

Even in cases where the article in English denotes pre-
eminence, as the sun, the sky, the world., etc., the Syriac
omits it.

The definite article may be prefixed to an adjective, when
separated in construction from its noun, or referring to a
noun understood. This is quite a common idiom. For

example, Ob*^2 ^X2 ladV^OOf the great (man) came to-day.

In such cases the adjective is really used as a noun. In the
ordinary construction of a qualifying adjective, it never
takes the article, whether the noun it qualifies has one or
not. Such expressions as in Hebrew rDlS
could not be admitted.

NOTE. — It need hardly perhaps be remarked that an adjective
used as a predicate never takes the article. This is of course founded
on the general principles of language, the predicate adjective being
abstract and in some degree indefinite. Thus, in Hebrew, Greek and
English it does not take the article ; in Anc. Syriac it does not take
the emphatic state (Hoff. § 118, 2) ; in German, Greek, etc. it is not
necessarily inflected to agree with its noun. This is also true to some
extent in Modern Syriac. Thus, we may say, for " These men are

free," either & iS'tfi 2.X&2 U2 or J.L 3f 2 Z&2 U2 ; in the latter

i* i' i i i' i> i

case the adjective being in the singular.

The suffix-pronoun sometimes in a manner supplies the
place of the definite article in English ; e. g. 5^*3 OP^A all

f ' 1 ' '*

of it (the) house, the whole house, while 5^*3 *-»A denotes any
house, every house. So in Anc. Syr. (Hoff. § 123, 4). See both
constructions in Eom. 3 : 19, fcoo^ ^A and ?*n\V cr-^a .

The indefinite article 2-** , 2x«* is prefixed less frequently

than our indefinite article, but more frequently than in the
ancient language (Hoff. §109, 4). Take the following as an
example of its use : Tl^aaV, 0^ iMOJA IXii ZJ» a man rose

9^, i1 "

in the meeting. In the following example it would naturally

147

be omitted : i i*»io^3 <»ojL* ixil cfo'c? yow see (a i. e. any)

i ' i i>

man on the way? Sometimes the employment or omission
of it is optional ; e. g. UoJ9f 2-O iJOaXD X^» ^-iAto he
brought a horse to sell, literally, for selling, or 2-GDOXD J.V.J

I m ', ', l> I l< l< >

Sometimes i-»9t&£9 a i!Am^ is annexed to another noun
» //

with much the force of an indefinite article ; for example,
i <poAlU» w3O*o Za^>A did you see a dog? We should sup-

pose this to mean did you see a dog or any thing of the kind ?
but the natives translate it as above.

In accordance with English usage, general nouns denot-

ing material, such as wood, silver, etc., abstract nouns, and

nouns with a suffix pronoun, as i«*fc»3 my house, do not take
the indefinite article.

RELATION OF NOUNS TO NOUNS.

The usages of the Modern Syriac in regard to apposition,
the government of one noun by another, etc., are so simple
that it is unnecessary to dwell on them. Two or three pe-
culiarities only will be noticed.

The noun V side sometimes follows another noun in

construction, to denote direction ; e. g. ?J*, -Skia.^ to the
city-side, i. e. in the direction of the city ; so i3^ &*-*?ki9 ^*
from the vicinity of the city. The word is also used figura-
tively ; e. g. V&^. ZftflUfcS ^0 in respect to bread.

There is an elliptical mode of speaking in common use,
which will be understood by one or two examples. Thus,
?\lt*rf ^Xi2 V*^> literally, a house, a man went, i. e. one

*' " 4. 5 42 * 4* #

from each house ; Ot-^ ^*^ ?.frftVO 22L* a boy, a pen he has,
i. e. each one has one.

It has been already mentioned that the construct state is
still employed to some extent, though the tendency is to
dispense with it altogether, and use a in its stead, as we use

148

the preposition of in English. This ft is omitted in expres-
sions such as iii2 aCT^V MftOSD what kind (of) man, not only
aC7X, but the general form, corresponding with the idiom
of the Persian and Turkish. Though educated Nestorians
generally speak with grammatical correctness, it may be

worth while to note as an exception the almost universal

•« *
use of w»v3 as if it were the singular and not the plural ;

e. g. 3-^ 2JHN-a wkifl ftOf he is a son (i. e. inhabitant) of
Degala.

Nouns, as well as other words, are often repeated : (a.) to
denote distribution or variety; e. g. 2aC7X 2acfX kinds,

•*' i mm< •* •'

kinds, i. e. different kinds ; «£** ''T1* colors, colors, i. e. dif-
ferent colors ; so with numerals : loj^ i** X* one, one time,
i. e. now and then ; so adverbs: !tl»>a 7<«»a slowly, slowly, i. e.
little by little ; (5.) to give intensity ; e. g. ,7\^*\n ,?S^\f1
fragments, fragments, i. e.; as we should say, a thousand frag-
ments ; i3a }3* exceedingly, ,?%^< J\»* very little indeed; (c.)

1> ' *•' If* t t^

to supply the place of eac/i, eac/i one ; e. g. iXii £&&2 maw,

wan, i. e. each man. This last usage is rather borrowed
from the ancient language than commonly heard, but we
allow it a place in our books. In regard to the general
idiom, compare the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. §112, 2), and the
Hebrew (Nordh. § 823).

There is also a curious, though perhaps vulgar, repetition
of nouns, which is common to the Persian, Turkish, Arme-
nian, and perhaps other languages of the East. In the
repetition do is substituted for the first letter of the word,
if it begin with a consonant, or do is prefixed, if it begin
with a vowel. The idea is thus generalized ; e. g. from

$ t $

3s**X dirt, we have fc**do V**& dirt and every thing of that

" ', > ••" i •- i

sort ,' from XBL»i minute, %ti*£Q 2-flL»a every little thing,

e. g. JAX^X? XflUSo XBL3 JkX i*xXr **l±fa!B & do not
i« i ,• ' i i ~ H i

esteem, (literally, put a price on) the trifles of the world.

149

ADJECTIVES.

A qualifying adjective in Modern Syriac, in the great ma-
jority of instances, as in Ancient Syriac (Hoff. §118, 1), and
in Hebrew (Nordh. § 770), follows its noun ; e. g. JJLKD ZXA!
old man, /&iat*Ax %j.i»AS9 beautiful city. The same rule
holds where two or more epithets are joined to one noun :

$ •»$ ^« A £ ' ?

JSc^O 2aaV, V*^ ^ a large and high house. Also when the

noun has a suffix, as %-*OJS wCTOXXaJL his firm taw. So
» , , ,

in the ancient language (Hoff. § 122, 3).

A few adjectives more naturally precede their nouns;
e. g. i9a , »M>S£ , I.M , etc., the latter being called an ad-
jective, though in reality a noun (Nord. § 725, 1). Thus,
£93 many horses, JsjL*2 M*SM a good tree. In

these cases £9ft ^AXOOJO and k^s- *2 would be also

i* . .1 ' j* *

allowable.

An adjective may be placed before its noun to give in-
creased emphasis ; e. g. %&}A I saV, i9* a very great stone.
Another mode of giving emphasis, is to place the adjective
at the head of the clause, and, after a brief pause, to repeat

it ; e. g. £J J**3 : iJUS ;L2 : ^ 2&o\I : Z^oil quick
,>i i i ,>

to learn, he is quick to learn; but wicked, he is wicked.

A qualifying adjective in the modern language cannot be
separated, as in the ancient (Hoff. § 118, Annot. 2), from its

noun by words such as A*ac7, w*9, etc.

,. \ •,

An adjective used as a predicate is also almost always
placed after the noun or pronoun to which it refers ; e. g.
2^» 9bV±)VL^oa ZXi2 OCT that man is rich, 2^ 2~o*0u* liO*A

i .V <

the bread is sour. The ancient language generally places the
adjective before its substantive in such a case (Hoff. §118, 2).
So the Hebrew (Nordh. § 772). An inversion of the ordinary

150

construction may, however, be employed for emphasis ; e. g.

* L x £ $ $ •£ ' L s $ m

OOf XJM l!AtJ&3 2^93 very agreeable {s he, <jO^\*3 Z^* ? ^> »T>*1
blessed is your house.

In regard to the demonstrative adjective pronouns, when
used to qualify nouns, they are always placed before their
nouns; e. g. ZSUkA 2of2 this dog, 2Mflu« 111 these donkeys,

f t Z ** $ £± ' I* I* '

iX*3 >LX&2 2c?i-^ to fl&w wicked man. When the construction

is different, we have followed the idiom of the Ancient
Syriac or the Hebrew (Hoff. § 118, and Nordh. § 884).

Cardinals also uniformly precede their nouns; in which
respect the. Modern Syriac is unlike the Ancient (Hoff. § 117,
1). In the latter language they sometimes precede, some-
times follow. The Modern resembles more the Hebrew
(Nordh. § 935) and English. In this also we have at times
changed the idiom, as Gen. 11 : 1. Such expressions as

',* A I ' / « '

2 a^riV t&riw 9u* k*x3 in the ancient language would not now
• » *i i i

be at all allowable.

SUBJECT NOMINATIVE AND VERB.

In general, the verb agrees with its subject nominative in
number and person. There are, however, constructions ad
sensum, as in the Ancient Syriac and most other languages,
the mere grammatical form being neglected (Hoff. § 137).

When the subject nominative is of different persons, the
rule found in Latin, Greek, and other languages, has place,
that the first person is preferred to the second, and the sec-
ond to the third. Thus, <^tf 2 Via liio **\42 you and I will
go, »Q>J>O»\X2 OC7O z\&2 you and he came.

Verbs are often used impersonally, and then the feminine
gender is employed, as a representative of the neuter gender
in other languages; e. g. >L.V&aA 2&4JO <*A\ it drew (i. e.
it occupied) two hours, £jL» Z33t** it is bad, i. e. a bad thing,

4. 4* * "

^A^ ^Jkkaf l&it is a fear to you, i. e. you are afraid (note,
that i^^?f is a vulgar and anomalous form of jlxaf ),

151

it was a fear to us, i. e. we were afraid. If the
origin of the preterite tense has been correctly explained in
the Etymology, we have in this example a curious redupli-

cation, as will be seen by spelling JJkXftf with final Cf ,

4? ^
A cv* *X?9 .

v i a

The feminine is in such cases always preferred ; and yet,
when translating from Anc. Syr., which uses the mascu-
line as well as the feminine verb impersonally (Hoff. § 138,
3), we have sometimes followed that, rather than the spoken
language ; e. g. Matt. 13 : 40. See the same use of the fem-
inine verb as an impersonal in Hebrew (Nordh. § 737, 2).
Indeed, this disrespectful use of the feminine gender for an
indefinite thing, results from the ideas of Orientals.

NOTE. — 5 Jodf Z-t , in which case the verb is used impersonally

and in the masculine, is hardly an exception to the general rule, as
it has almost lost its power as a verb, like if=gif=give, in English.

In this connection may be mentioned such expressions

as Z2U* >*\ Z-^dCT there became to me a heart. ^ Zj>X.2
« » ,• v i i'

there came on us his pity, i. e. pity for him;

where the verb seems first to be used impersonally, and
then a masculine nominative to come in as an after-thought.
This change of construction is not without its force, and
may be at times preferable to the regular form.

The nominative absolute is very common in Modern
Syriac, sometimes used emphatically, and sometimes without

any such design ; e. g. V±* 1&*~ OCf : 7l»ti*n Christ, he is

mighty, ^kA ISbA.X &3 wCfOa^2 :feQA9 your father, his

V * V— * *i ' ' * *

hand will guide you, «f 2 *13 fiOf »Bo2 : &QJOS*t 2of2 this
Jacob, he also will go. In these cases, it is emphatic ; but it
can hardly be considered so in the following example :

ibof Z3\**X Mk^»ao2 : 1*J»3OV* the rivers, their course would
a i i <> i

change, which is simply saying, 'the course of the rivers
would change.' See the same idiom in Anc. Syr. (Hoff. § 119),
in Hebrew (Nordh. § 866, 1, b.), and in other languages.

152

On the other hand, the nominative is omitted altogether,
when regarded as indefinite ; as, for example, when Wtii or
Z&2 might be supplied. This usage, not uncommon in the
Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 188, 4), is far more common in the
Modern, and is a substitute, as mentioned in the Etymology,
for the passive verb ; e. g. J^ u£&Sf 1& men oppress ws,

91 I*

i. e. we are oppressed.

PREDICATE NOMINATIVE.

The proper place for the predicate nominative, with its
qualifying words, is between the subject nominative and its
verb ; e. g. i^** ^olSOJL ^Ai^iX ^.XX^ba drunkenness is
great folly. The rule, however, is variable. "We may say,

with a kind of emphasis, ^SiaoX^ ^JXii^X Jj« ^A-ba ;

i _ i i> i

the change of the usual construction, as in other cases, giv-
ing more force to the words.

VERB iOOf TO BE.
i>

This is rarely omitted, the Modern Syriac differing in this
respect from the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 146, 3), and the
Hebrew (Nordh. § 701, 1, b.). Yet we at times find such ex-
amples as the following, some of them perhaps transferred

by us from the ancient language, and others in universal

* ' • ' * * ' * '

use : Z»iVfc**1? tA9 our father that in heaven, l*JOJi *VA*» Xa

' ' t 4* ^' t * '

that under heaven, Eph. 6 : 12, 2Ck-*Z^ fe >»O,a36X (let there
be) glory to Gfod, ^A>*xflL3 OCf he (is) calling you, 2xd X>X,
(it is) necessary to read.

NOTE. — The verb of existence is not omitted with the correspond-
ing words /SO and AV<* , nor always with tV.,9^ . A person,

" "* . • i '

in assenting to a remark, often says <«OaJ3L» your word, for

' '

153

OBJECT OF THE VERB.

The objective is often denoted, as in the Anc. Syr., by ^
prefixed (vulgarly »*^), and especially when intended to
be definite ; e. g. Z&&2 OCfgut >Jj>«« / saw (to) that man.
But in a sentence like the following : frO.w«^a

,
did you find a purse? it is neither needed nor allowed. In

common conversation it is also often dropped, for the sake
of brevity, where we should expect to hear it. Like !"!>$ in

Hebrew (Nordh. § 835), ^ does not seem to be so much a
sign of the accusative, as to be used for directing special
attention to any subject.

^ may also denote, as in Anc. Syr. (Hoff. § 114, 1),
the same relation as the dative in Western languages;

e. g. f*S TUAJM* uAaA^w / did service to the Khan;

^ > n i n

* * * • ^ t •" '

Z2L&3U* ACT OJ-^ JkSOf give to him that apple. In this last

example, t-CffOTLd/or him would be perhaps more common.
The idea may also be expressed without any preposition, as
in Anc. Syr. (Hoff. §122, 1) : \&JtD \L 2*3^0« he gave me
a watch.

Some verbs, as e. g. those of naming, clothing, anoint-
ing, asking, commanding, feeding, teaching, telling, filling,
etc., are often followed by two objects, of which one gene-
rally, though not always, signifies a person. The noun denot-
ing a person may have ^ prefixed, but the other noun very

rarely takes it, if at all ; e. g. 1^'aV, 2& oo£ XUaiote

* ft * **

lie put clothes on that boy; >-»O3 CT^XCf X13 u4O9h3 2072 this

my son I will call him David; iSoa^ 0JJ^ featSUk *13 3-kiBL*
the field ive will make it a vineyard. The ancient language
has very nearly the same usage (Hoff. § 141, 4, 5).

It may be well to remark that in many cases, where in
English and other Western languages an object is viewed
as direct, in Syriac it is regarded as indirect, and vice versa.

VOL. V. 20

154

This leads to the employment or omission of prepositions, in
a way very different from the usages of our own language ;
e. g. Z*£> jij^o frO>j»M9 you filled the vessel (with) water;

' ' 5 • ' •* *

where the Syriac also admits of 3 or Kto ; ii^iX t£9 2ao2

•• v • • , v m ,i „

he entered from (by) the door; b*C70fcJ3f ^jiaox we told for him;
^*9 2x03 he touched on us ; <O>%*P V^° 2oVA2 ^ if God

show favor from (to) you ; ^ uJBJOi TUS they will ascend
(above) us; u*X*2 ^!0 3-^OJt* he kissed from my hand, i. e. he
kissed my hand. The modern language is, however, no
more unlike the English in these respects than the ancient.

PRONOUNS.

The nominatives Z*2, te2, etc., are not generally ex-
pressed before the verb, unless for the sake of specification
or emphasis, as the terminations of the verb prevent all
ambiguity in regard to number and person. When empha-
sis is required, these pronouns are oftener placed after the

verb than before it ; e. g. i &2 ^xat^ u»aa£o what am I to
do, I? i te2 <y&MOX did you tell, you? Sometimes the pro-
noun both precedes and follows : &**i t£o2 <J£$2 A3 t**»2

v» i i ^ « ^ /

we will go, we too.

The pronoun, used as a subject nominative, and indeed
any nominative, is occasionally separated by an intermediate
clause from its verb ; e. g. »jx^4L» : <^oAx2d ^3L0 ^o : i*&2

they, before you came, saw. The Modern Syriac, however,
generally favors the simplest construction.

The pronoun is often employed as an absolute nomina-
tive, in the same manner as nouns ; e. g., with the imper-
sonal verb of existence, uA foA Jil or 2*2 uA xA I there
ii ii

is not to me, i. e. I have not : TU8>X^ «M>A X»O^f 7^ : *\i2 you,

i a ^>i ,• i9

there will not be to you opportunity ; ixJiaa t*C7a£auJd : OOT

155

he, his mercies are many ; uMu-£ Z& ' ^i-*2 %i*i but we,
they blame us. See Matt. 26 : 11, and compare the ancient
version. See also Hoff. § 121, 1.

It is to be noted that the very common idiom of the an-
cient language and the Hebrew, by which the pronoun takes
the place of the substantive verb, finds no favor in the Mod-
ern Syr., in Oroomiah at least, though it is said to be heard

sometimes in Koordistan (Hoff. § 121, 2). Nor is OC7 used
pleonastically in the modern as in the ancient language
(Hoff. § 123, 1) ; e. g. Vlacr &tt^ ecr.X*jA? , 1 Tim. 5 : 9.
The governing noun in the modern as well as in the an-
cient language (Hoff. § 122, 2), may take the suffix which
seems more properly to belong to the noun which it gov-
erns; e. g. 5^AX*3a ^&*»ao2 your way of evil, or 2*»ao2

^pVlA*> your death of the body, or

The latter forms are the more common.
It is a universal practice to use pleonastically the suffix
pronoun, followed immediately by the noun to which it
refers. Thus, feASI w»C7 >**.•>*• / saw her, the woman;

mm'' ' * 4 ' •* * ' ' "

lXi2 u42 hV Smfta we drove them away, the men. Com-
«• ' ' ' • if •

pare the ancient OUjj" OP*.dLX , and many similar expres-

sions (Hoff. § 123, 3). The idea seems to be the same,
whether the pronoun is used or not. In Hebrew, this has
been considered an emphatic suffix (Nordh. § 866, 2, a), but
we do not so regard it as used by the Nestorians.

On the other hand, the suffix is entirely omitted when

the meaning is sufficiently plain without it ; e. g. J\X2

w»XO 2\4OTLO he came and told (it) for me.
i ,< •• i \ '.

The suffixes are in some cases used as reflexives ; e. g.
%y f\A Z~ iQlV^ft ^£f 2 1X3 I will go and ask for me (for
myself) a book. See an example in both Ancient and Mod-
ern Syriac, John 4 : 8.

156

As the relative particle 3 undergoes no inflection, many
ideas, which we express directly in English, must in Moa-
ern Syriac be expressed by a circumlocution. A few exam-
ples will be given below. Examples of the same kind may
be found in Hoff. § 125, Nordh. Chap. ix. and Rosen. Arab.
Gramm. Syntax, xcvin.

1. WTtom.-tA

"I am Joseph your brother, that ye sold me," Gen. 45 : 4;

k-oroJCDla tAaofttooer? ii*2 Z^J 2cfl *//& w ^e ?nan to /
< i a i i<

spoke about him.

2. Which. — XftOT er&SUgJ? JV^.:! J-- a ^arden that he

had planted it ; fc*C7A*3 »VM\^a la 2^0 iAe spade tiiat I
worked with it.

3. Whose.— irtUfl >JLJJP ^a Z^0\» ^JaOJO </Je ^Ves-

II t ,< f I !> t

torians of the mountains, that (men) plunder their cattle.

4. Place where. — CfOoX. uAaJLA &o a village that I un-
packed (encamped or halted) in it; i»X i«OV*» &•**? 1~
a place that he was there.

5. Whither.— uoyoo^ ^oA>3f^a ^oxa the vineyard that

i ^*i i, i

you went into it.

6. Either.— iaiS J^XOAia ^aoftfl jJ. an ore ^Aa< w?e

• » v i i< i

brought hither.

7. Whence.— »91*l*O ?t i\V ^Sit^a ^Obd a well that

i a i> i H i

they were drawn from it.

8. When. — ZAOT idOj ^ax 2^0 uCTa*3a Zioo- ^ a c?oy

v « » |i i i

that in it I was lord of business, i. e. busy.

In some of the preceding cases, a may express the idea
without the pronoun or adverb following. Thus, for "a
day," etc., we may say ZAC? ^Qu jSftT la^ba 7*Qft » >L».

there being an ellipsis of

As in the ancient language (Hof£ § 125, 1, Annot.), it may
denote the objective case of the relative. For instancer
2jL»a b*9hi&9 JjkA every thing that he may see.

The relative a may often be rendered definite, as in

Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 125, 3) and Hebrew, by wXi^o a

* > * * • * "

thing, ^OJttBCf a word, i*l2 a man, OOf he, etc., prefixed :

Vliiio tf cfo not forget the thing that he tells ;

J y '

c?o not know him
who is coming.

In Hebrew (Nordh. § 907), as in English, and in Ancient
Syriac to a very limited extent (Hoff. § 125, 4), the relative
may be omitted ; e. g. a house (which) he built two years ago.
But a seems to be never omitted in Modern Syriac, except
when used as a conjunction.

It may be well to give a few examples to illustrate the
use of the interrogative and indefinite pronouns, and the
position they occupy in the sentence. We may say either

2crl , or i 2cr2 ^J ^ao^s . what is this ?

or i ^A3 2orl ^L *s*» , ^o is tin's

ml I

woman? i *Uo u^bTL&2, or, instead, iVlii^A^ u^b , or
n i i i u i

simply i^LoJ uoto , who art thou? i 5^ uitoa 2'aox 2cf2 ?

or i 2cr2 i^J u»iioa fa ox, or i la ox 2cr2 ^ uAtoa ,
•' ' i1 »

whose ox is this ?

The interrogative pronouns may be used, as in Ancient
Syriac (Hoff. §45, 2, Annot. 4) and Hebrew (Nordh. § 921),
as indefinite pronouns. For example, in the expressions :

»VO >L*^a.*3 kdOu Z-* / do not know who he is,
t i i v H i>

'X^Q TL9 OOf Ae will inform you who went,

* I H ^

Ae dfo? no^ see t^AwA (of the two) it was.
< i

Very often JLX&2 without the article is used where we
should use, in English, any one, as in the Anc. Syr. (Hoff.

158

£ ' A? $ %

1 127, 4) : 1 3^9 O\ ZXi2 A-»2 w $ere any one in the village ?

Sometimes >L&2 may be omitted, and yet the idea be clearly

• ' i' * •> ' if

and idiomatically expressed ; as OC7a ^»2 XiA ZXDaa^a o.\

in ike school there is not like him (his like). iX*2 is also now
and then used to denote each one; as, Z&&2 .^L^aaaoa
wC7O\£O^ $<?y scattered, man (each man) to Ais milage. So
in the ancient language (Hoff. § 127, 3). But generally,
when thus used, it is repeated, as already mentioned.

MOODS AND TENSES OF VERBS.

Though the ordinary signification of the different moods
and tenses was given in the Etymology, some additional
remarks are necessary to illustrate their use.

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present Tense. — This is sometimes used : 1. As a perfect ;
e. g. iii ?vV !?jfc,l » JJk* X»Xt&3 he is reading here three

H ii • i ii H

years. 2. As a future; e. g. ?*«X> JL» aO(\3 ^ftJ ^SfUl t&e

are going after a month. So in Gen. 6 : 17, where, in the
modern language, we have the present tense, and in the
ancient the active participle.

Imperfect Tense. — This is sometimes used: 1. As a present;

e. g. iacj Xf 9tA£o3 ZACT uuJ&r >3tA3 # %-as (is) £e«er that

II II t I ± I ,, , i s ^',

you should preach. 2. As a future; e. g. J^JJoayJJ >Lft07 2-^f i3
Ae i<;as going (intending to go) in the morning ; the implication
being that he is now prevented. 3. As an imperfect sub-
junc. ; e. g. JLacr VuL^ Jy.S'B : ZJOCT Vijocr IX&2 t*J^^ ^ z/
yow should be a good man, you were (would be) blessed. 4. As a
pluperf. subjunc. ; e. g. ZaL** ZAOT zloof ^ JJOCT ***j£r >3tA3

f ii H t J* : . ~l

it was (would have been) better, if you had gone.

Preterite Tense. — 1. Used as a present ; e. g., a man in dis-
tress says uA&!» Idied, i.e. I am dead; »>J«.dLi«« I choked,

159

1. e. I am choked, or I am drowned. A boy in recitation, if
confused, will say uJ^ ,lV>tl\X it lost on me, i. e. I have
lost it. Ask a man how his business is to-day, and he may

reply JUXJ^ %sb\Vl SOT it remained (remains) just. so. Persons
^ J ,• » - - ' Jj? > <,„

coming to make a petition will tell us ^o..xX »*3C7 Add

'i i i • ii > i ,i *

we poured (i. e. we now place) our hope on you. Compare
Anc. Syr. (Hoff. § 129, 4, b, c). Compare also Ps. 1 : 1, in the
Ancient and the Modern. The expression in the Ancient,

' $ 4? *

w^ftX iocr X>3 ^a , Matt. 12 : 30, may be considered equiva-
lent either to a present indicative or to a present subjunctive.
So Deut. 1 : 89, tisa&Z «^f^ &* that did not (do not) know.

', '' L '

2. Used as a perfect; e. g. X*?2 2^X2 Ae came now, i.e. he has
just arrived. This is the common mode of speaking. So too,

iiukaaX /& $>C7? COJ i^ ,?S>»VJ blessed is he that never
,i a 'a ,<•!

heard (meaning, that has never heard). 3. Used as a pluper-
fect; e.g. fcpOttOCT t* i^Oa^? ^flu2 when he (had) finish-
ed from speaking (Hoff. § 129, 3). 4. Used as a future ; e. g.

if you died to-morrow, you
J y ' y

perished (compare with the use of the first verb Hoff. § 129,
8, c, and of the second verb, same section, 7) ; :*U5007 ^2
2 307 >L««i>it^O if you believe. Christ just now,

i. e. at this moment, received (will receive) you. This is no
doubt an emphatic future. Compare Nordh. § 966, 1, c. 5.
Used as a subjunctive present; e. g. i^oo) 2Jk »^2 if it did
not become, L e. if it does not meet the case, equivalent to

Z $ Lt

2-»O07 >L2t ^ (see the ancient usage, Mark 12 : 25, as follows :
l^*aa t^o o£XO a XkV, iio , in which case the translation might

have been literal) :

if you went out (set out) now, perhaps you will reach;

aao lam grop-

160

ing after God, if perhaps I found (him). Compare the ancient
usage in Ecc. 6 : 6, 2*— 2-£ fe.'M^yft , where 2iL» expresses
the idea of contingency. 6. Used as a subjunctive imper-

fect ; e. g. *£f I ta : ZkdttBOX X* L^Oi iajO although

,• i
the business did not finish (should not end), / shall go ;

.Loo? xldQu J3C7 ^(OkXdL^OX »^2 if you destroyed (should
destroy) us, you were (would be) just.

The preterite seems never to be used in the modern lan-
guage for an imperative, as in the ancient (Hoff. § 129, 6). It"
will not be thought strange that it is employed in such a
variety of ways in the spoken Syriac, when we consider what
an important tense it was in the structure of the old verb.
Many of the idioms mentioned above give force and vivacity
to the language. We are thus allowed to speak of events
and actions which are present or future though definite, or
future and contingent, as if they had actually transpired and
were recorded in the past. On this account the preterite is
often used in Hebrew in the language of prophecy. See also
examples of its use in conditional clauses (Nordh. § 991, 1).

The other forms of the preterite given in the Etymology,

k£xs ^OLd , Z&-03OJ& , etc., have substantially the same

^11 I ,1 H I

meaning as the regular preterite, and may be used in the
same way. The first named of these is ordinarily employed
only when euphony requires it. See Etymology.

Perfect Tense. — This is used : 1. for the present ; e. g.

Z^** Zau *C he has sat, i. e. is sitting ; A*»* LA3 he has wept,
i. e. (often) is weeping. This usage seems to be confined to a
small number of verbs. 2. for the preterite ; e. g. ^bj 2-»X2
laAV^^O we have come (we came) long ago. This is the

usual mode of speaking. Compare what is said of the pre-
terite No. 2. 3. for the perfect passive. See Etymology,
Passive Voice. Ambiguity may sometimes arise, as to the
question whether the verb is used in an active or passive
sive sense ; but the context generally determines. We may

translate, e. g., Z^» ZA*i9a either he is asleep, he has slept, or
he has been asleep,' fa* l*X3f they have sown, or they are sown.

161

Pluperfect Tense. — This is sometimes used : 1. for the im-

£ x 5 £ x 5 x

perfect ; e. g. ioof Jt'VI he was weeping, ZAC7 %3Lt\* he was

sitting. 2. for the passive imperfect. This is very common.
See Etymology.

Future Tense. — Whatever is peculiar in the use of this tense
will be noticed under the Present Subjunctive. The second
future is not very much used, a form of expression being
chosen which renders it unnecessary ; e. g., where in English
we might say "before you come, I shall have arrived," a

Nestorian would be likely to say ^0^*? yELO (.» ^&> ^3

I shall arrive before you.

SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD.

Present Tense. — It should be distinctly borne in mind that
what has been called in the Etymology the present subjunc-
tive, is nothing more nor less than the ancient present par-
ticiple, with fragmentary pronouns suffixed. The old future
having disappeared, this present participle, with flS pre-

4. "

fixed, becomes a future in Mod. Syr. ; with X> prefixed,

it becomes a future, or a generic present, expressed nega-

$ $

tively; with ^3LO (ancient ^9^O) prefixed, it becomes a

preterite; with JA or w»{ prefixed, it becomes a generic

present ; and without a prefix, it inclines to retain its
original present signification. Remembering these facts,
and the further fact that both in Ancient Syriac and in
Hebrew, the future was much used as a subjunctive or
conditional (Hoff. § 130, 4 ; Nordh. § 993), we shall not be
surprised to find these different meanings shading into each
other in the Modern Syriac. The following examples will
illustrate the very different uses of this tense. Question,

• ^Jtfl am I going? or may I go? Answer, *u£f 2 : 2cf yes,

you are to go, or you may go. The question may thus be
either a simple interrogatory, or a permission asked ; and the
answer is to be understood accordingly. If the answer is
"you are to go," it is really a mild imperative. Compare
our English "you may go and do so and so;" when we
mean "you must go." This mode of speaking is very coin-

VOL. V. 21

162

mon, and in prayer is often interchanged with the imperative

in the same sentence ; e. g. t.S>fl>%\ V&aLa 2x : loOtl J-.

0 v < „ „ i

0 Lord, come and abide with us ! Compare in Anc. Syr.

1 Kings 8 : 30. Comp. also the interchange of the future
and imperative in Hebrew.

t**££0 let him find, i. e. allow him to find, or he is to find.
"*

In this case, and very often to the third person, singular and

' « *

plural, *3tiOu« or JUOAX may be prefixed ; e. g. u»xd >3tA*<

let them read, where as above we may have the idea of per-
mitting them to read, or of directing them, the circumstances
and the connection determining what is intended.

let me tell you; <<«9hAX O£a what can we do? "

*• i m< I ' " ' •

AU t^fdj* may I die a youth, it is true (may I die young,

if it be not true) — compare the Latin " ne sim salvus," may
I perish !

The present subj unctive may be used to express a suppo-
sition, particularly if ^JJ&to a parable, a supposition, is pre-
fixed ; e. g. u*C70^OJt ^OLSOX : ^Vflalo supposition: he fin-
ishes his business, or let him finish, or grant that he finish, or
if he finish. Compare the Latin " vendat asdes vir bonus,"
suppose, etc. So, too, without the word ^ktttto ; e. g.
TL^pJk£ >LS : ^.OJCOaa *\Ajn ?Jt suppose you do not learn
your lesson, you will not go out. We may in this case say, if
we choose, that ^ is omitted, as in Hebrew (Nordh. § 991,
3, a). The imperfect subjunctive allows the same idiom.

The present subjunctive is used in prohibition, where the
Ancient Syriac, the Hebrew, and the English would naturally
use the future ; e. g. VlStu^ & thou shalt not steal; jtlj^a 2Jt
thou shalt not lie. IXSlii^ i^ would mean thou wilt not steal,
or you are not in the habit of stealing, and *VSv^ Xia 1± would
be an emphatic way of saying the same thing. See in Ety-

1G3

mology a notice of this last form. This distinction it is im-
portant to observe ; otherwise we may be led into ludicrous
blunders. Thus, a man speaking to me about his son in

my employ, says ^a 2-^ kt him not be hungry ; to whom I
reply, ^* ^ he will not be hungry (I will do well for him)
or he does not go hungry.

NOTE. — With the use of 2-* and J\ in this tense compare Kb

and bit of the Hebrew, oti and ft% of the Greek, and nan and ne of
the Latin. It is evident, however, that the resemblance is only a
general one, and in the indicative does not hold at all.

It is to be remarked that we are not limited to the sub-
junctive present for expressing prohibitions, as those using
the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 130, 4, c.) and Hebrew (Nordh.
§ 1006) were limited to the future. The imperative niay be

freely employed for that purpose, as £3O&X, iik do not steal,
»*•*£ i£ do not go down, etc.

The present subjunctive may be used also in entreaty ;
e. g. *lj>V^ i-^ I beg you not to lie' *li3f 2-» / beg you not
to sell, etc. Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether it is a
command or an entreaty, as, e. g., if I call to a man pursued
by a bull, VlVa )Jt do not stop.

In familiar conversation the *13 of the future is often
omitted, and then the form becomes that of the present sub-
junctive; e, g. ^fi : ^*f 2 Vulka if you wish (that) I go, I

(will) go. So Gen. 42 : 36, i ^oVl^SLX ^YUiJlio and (will)
you take JSenjamin ? So, too, iA or u*2 is often omitted ;

e. g. ^oefrS iiL i^ Xi-2 : JJMJ ^3 I wish (that) I may

read, but it is not happening (coming about). Here a general
desire is expressed to learn. With this we may compare
the ancient present participle, which is also used for a ge-
neric present (Hoff. §135, 3), as in Ecc. 2 : 14, where we must

translate the ancient Af I by Af 2 JJk . So f»a^o2, Is. 3 : 2 ;
and many other cases. Moreover, the anc. present participle

164

is used for the future (Hoff. § 135, 3), which will account for

A ^ ', 1 x $ I

such cases as that given above, viz. ^02 : ^f 2 X»^3 »_2.

%*±S and perhaps some other verbs, in their ordinary use,
'.' ' ' * * • '

retain the force of the ancient participle ; e. g. ^»S>3 X*?2 SCf

exactly now I wish, where the idea is limited to the present
moment.

The present subjunctive is occasionally used for a preter-
ite indicative, as was the present participle (Hoff. § 135, 3, b)

from which it sprung; e. g. teoi AdOJt.iO and Jesus saying
(said) ; w9£d2 they said. In these cases, the modern usage is
almost a transcript of the ancient, 9£02 being written for

9£o2, and »**ol for M 9£»2.
i i ^ i

It is not strange that these different idioms lead to ambi-
guity, which no acquaintance with the language will fully

'' m * 4.' i.** L1 *•''

remove ; e. g. 5^n Vr» ^& Z*^~ ^k.0 may be translated

"our sweet voices let us all raise," or "we do all raise," or
"we will all raise." The perplexity thus caused, however,
is as nothing, compared with the puzzling expressions we
often find in Hebrew.

The usages are so simple in regard to what has been
called the second present subjunctive, that no remarks need
be made about them.

In a multitude of instances, the indicative or subjunctive
may either of them be used to express an idea ; but the
subjunctive will express it as more contingent, as is true of

the German and other languages; e. g. ZAC7? u>3h&£o *X£
every thing that there may be, for which we may substitute

zS^a u-xi» ^ or Vu2a wxuaa ^a . So iocr ZaZ^ %J,
f i > H i i H i< • i n

or i*^ ? "V? S »^2 if he be here, or if he is liere.
f • i n

Imperfect Tense. — This is often used as an imperfect in-
dicative, in accordance with the use of the ancient present
participle, joined with JjftOf , from which it took its origin ;

# x •*' $ s * 4 '

e. g. JjftOT f >Ai9O Jjbcj &£*» \AX »O and Jesus was walk-
it i H I

ing about and preaching.

165

It is also used, as the imperfect subjunctive in Latin, for
the pluperfect ; and this is the common idiom in regard to
a verb which follows a conditional clause, and which, in
our language, would be in the pluperfect. "We thus may say

xlAOf «^2 if you had told me, I

should not be (have been) angry ; '

>xk»*>'V' * "

%AC1 ^Bl2 3s-SX^I if he had heard, certainly he would (would
i1 i i

have) come ; implying that he did not hear nor come.
This tense is also used with a negative, to imply what ought

not to be ; e. g. 2x£LX Xocr iaor i\a waoio 2-* VIA- lauAX
* > • i * » « « / «

you have done a thing that should not be done. See Lev. 4 : 13,
27, and compare the Ancient Syriac.

Perfect and Pluperfect Tenses. — It is unnecessary to say any-
thing further of these tenses than that they are not much
used in common conversation, the Nestorians preferring to
state their idea in another and more simple form, which they
can in most cases readily do. When they are used, they
correspond in general to the same tenses in the Latin.

*13 has sometimes been prefixed to the tenses of the sub-

junctive in our books ; but this is not in accordance with
general usage in Oroomiah, and has of late been nearly or
quite dropped.

SUBJUNCTIVE AFTER PARTICLES.

Much that might be said under this head has been virtu-
ally anticipated in the numerous examples given in the pre-
ceding pages. The principal particles which may take the

subjunctive are: »J , lik »J , ftAJl , a , jLJkft , a la . a N*OU!,

a a i • ^ i

?J» , a k£i2 , a laje , a Zao^ , a ii^x , a Acr , etc.

I ^ H I • I I I

'' V_ ' # * •

So that is expressed by ? ia*XOf ; when, by ft Zi>X wOT ,
as well as by ^JBu2 ; Zes^ b}r ft i^Of ZS , i. e. let it not be that.

As to the use of »^2 and ftA^i , the question whether they
are to be followed by the subjunctive or indicative present,
depends on the degree of contingency in each individual case,

1GG
in the speaker or writer's mind; e. g. Jao?OJJ JJxdi3 kAOf ^,

s '' m' I1 ' " " "

or, instead, jLboaOtB ^Ou X*Xtl3 ^j if I am reading to-morrow.
^> , with the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive, implies
the non-existence of the action or state of the verb ; e. g.
%6&l TLXa^o ^ if you should sicken (implying that you are

ft I lf $ $ j, * ^

not sick now), Xfl^CD iacf *XjBC7 % 2 if you had come up (as
you have not).

As to the use of a , it is important to observe that, like
ut in Latin, it is employed in a multitude of cases to denote
the purpose, object, or result of the preceding clause, where
in English and Hebrew (Nordh. § 1030) we should have the

infinitive : jJD&fO feAiaa u»CfOJVd u»iX tell for him that he

water the horse ; iACf 2*L*3 2LjJk« he went that he might see;
I* (i a

CV-^ UM*dt!09) *\ioC7f %j>S>t*i>\. they drew trouble that they
i> i T. it a

might find him (tried to find). Observe that it is immaterial,
in this last, and many similar cases, whether we use the pres-
ent or the imperfect subjunctive, each being alike contin-
gent. The present would, however, be generally preferred as
briefer and equally expressive. 9 is very often omitted after

^, etc. For example, iVlAjJ A>Va do you wish (that)
you may learn ? 2aA»i^ *\3 Via )jLt ^3O ^ t!s necessary (that)

i' /T, // i //

7/0 M write quickly, uhdSkX uui9 Jx^XS 1X3 he will beg on (of)

them (that) they flee. Compare the omission of 9) in the an-
cient language (Hoff. § 130, 4, y ; § 149, 3, 5 ; § 134, 3, a),
and also of ut in the Latin. The correspondence between the
signification of verbs in that language which dispense with
ut, and those in the Modern Syriac which are not followed
by 9» , is quite striking.

Sometimes a clause is interposed between 9> and the verb
to which it refers ; e. g. :

which literally reads / wish that those men that I
have spoken about them be poured into prison.

167

& %JO for that (Iva) is in general used like ft , but can only
denote the purpose or object, not the result. It is not com-
monly used in Koordistan, where 3 supplies its place.

There is the same distinction between the words
^ £•> ^flul and ^OL» XooA^A ^Ou2 that there is in Eng-
lish between the expressions "when I pray" and "when I
am praying."

The remaining particles need no illustration. Z3O^ and
« . » • ' ^

ZXdX are identical in meaning, the former being used more

in Koordistan, and the latter in Oroomiah. They corres-
pond to the ancient iddTLXl and u»oA , as used with the

// i

future.

"Where several tenses of the same kind are connected by
the conjunction A, if the first is preceded by Vl3, the oth-
ers may omit it. So if JA is prefixed to the first, it is un-
derstood with all. The same is often, but not always, true

in regard to those tenses which terminate in %A91 ; e. g.

• • * * s v *
f X&JBO la Of Otf 2 ii he was in the habit of going and preach-

" i i ^ a i' m , i

ing, where %ACt need not be repeated after f X3>59 . So in

the ancient language. So in the English " I will go, and
(will) call them, and (will) have a talk."

INFINITIVE.

The absolute infinitive, joined with the finite verb, is used
in the Modern as well as in the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 133),
and the Hebrew (Nbrdh. § 1017), to give intensity to the
idea ; e. g. John 9 : 9, where the ancient is iSoa 7*0% 1fl , and

/ ^ % $ $ $ t1 '/

the modern Jjf* Z»*0>3 3i»y>'>*n he is very much like, he
strongly resembles. Sometimes the infinitive is used in a man-
ner different from the preceding. For example, iZ-V^aoiXiiL
did he not hear ? To this, the answer may be as follows ;

168

/ ,.

&w£ coming he did not come. We have often prefixed !0 to
this infinitive, in accordance with early usage, and indeed
present usage among the mountains ; but it is not heard in
Oroomiah.

The infinitive with S is occasionally employed in the
Mod. Syr., though the subjunctive with » and ft 10 is gene-
rally preferred. The following are examples of its use:

2&aa& M3t&*0 VlA there is nothing to sell; i^f 5^ 2x-2 Aa?
i> i a i i> i ^ 1 1<

* ' v ^. '
we poured hand to go, i. e. we set out ; i ? > V*ilVC \ ^0^X2

did you come to hear f In these examples, a with the sub-
junctive may also be employed, according to usage in Oroo-
miah. In some parts of Koordistan, however, ^ is used
much more than here in Oroomiah, and especially when,
as in these cases, it has no object expressed after it. Thus,

* ' v v '
they say i JLAAfcit.^ <^Q^X2 , but, with an object folio wing,

\ ^nf 9hA£9 Tl.VAXXa ^&\X2 , did you come to hear preaching?

In Oroomiah, in many cases, where we should expect ^ ,
some other preposition is used with the infinitive. For ex-
ample, in the sentences above we may substitute %h with
equal propriety.

As in the ancient lang., ^0 may be used before the infini-
tive for the purpose of comparison (Hoff. § 134, 2) ; but in the
common usage without any ^ . Thus, for uA xUtfJB V*2
^ , in Euth 1 : 12, we may translate

V •

or use, if we prefer, the subjunctive
^*OOfa ^o . So too, for the clause in Gen. 11 : 8,
va^Aa (£0 OJtJ^ , \vc may write
So we say feA^g ^AoA^ ^o ^S>Vti they ceased fr

ing; JlXauk^ *X590^f ^9 ^JixdSk^ we finished from trouble-draw-
ing, i. e. from being in trouble, or from taking pains ;

169
X^db 2Jt you cannot hinder me from

Jf! ii "

The infinitive is used in other connections without a pre-
position ; e. g. JaiSo jjJ^« he went to bring, where in Koor-
distan they would say ifliaaA .

Here may properly be classed such cases as the following:
,?iS^y> )£ &91 while not yet arriving, i. e. while the person
had not yet arrived ; 3L*JL* & fcCf not at all seeing, the con-
text determining who did not see. So also with suffixes :
h*0fQb»JL» Z-» &91 whik not seeing him. The place of these
may of course always be filled by the finite verb.

uJMbX A 91 1frAXi>a3 uJDOaJ^ &9 they will increase in
i it i a i a

wickedness until their perishing (Nordheimer, § 1030, 3) ;
Zxdf 9t93 i*Xaf ^3Ld ^» before the sowing of the seed (Nordh.

§1030, 4, a); < *L 1~ Zioo»ioc?O a»^ laJXX are ma/cmy
thought (thinking) awe? speaking one (the same) ? (Nordh.
§ 1013, I. 1). So t*9t£ ^ ZAONU90 fxk— digging and
watering (fields) / do not understand (Nordh. § 1013, II. 1) ;
Zda'f i!OOta*a liaJkJS ai ^e fowe of sun-rising (Nordh. § 1030,

if ' * • 4f

2, a); i*if ^»i jTTbrt* w'XliO ^\*J^ fAere is nothing (so) JacZ as
committing adultery (N. § 1030, 2, b); 2^O9X J|V>^5Lft VlA3
for the purpose of making bricks (Nordh. § 1030, 6, a).

Some of the above may perhaps be regarded by others as
participles, the 3 of verbs of the first class being dropped ;
or simply as nouns. But it seems preferable, if etymology
alone, or the analogy of the Turkish and Persian, as previ-
ously noticed, is taken into account, to call them infinitives.
However, it matters little ; for what is the infinitive but a
noun, expressing the abstract idea of the verb, without ref-
erence to tense or number or person ? The references above
show that there is a striking similarity between these ex-
amples and those adduced by Nordh eimer to show the use of
the infinitive in Hebrew. They might be farther multiplied.

170

PABTICIPLE.

A participle, when repeated, sometimes denotes the repeti-

• ' • *
tion of the action, or its continuance; e. g. laoajA laoao^

(i i i ,< i i

rolling, rolling, i. e. continuing to roll. Participles are often
thus used adverbially, to qualify a verb which follows ; e. g.
>3LObM 7\y M"fc*1 ,?Vy >»>*1 running, running, go, i. e. as fast as

you can ; ZXl ^Sn^l 2Jk«J^a laughing, laughing, he came,
i. e. full of glee.

Participles are sometimes used in the place of the infini-
tive, as in the ancient language (Hoff. § 134, 3, b), after verbs

denoting to begin; e. g. Z^JJtJ «^^aaX they began plucking.

>
Xd is not commonly prefixed to the participle in the

Modern as in the Ancient Syriac (Hoff. § 135, 5), and indeed
never in Oroomiah, although we occasionally employ it thus

in our books.

•**••••' t. «.* * * v* • ' ••'«**
For such expressions as JjJLJS wAAX , 2ot^*3 wXfLa ,

etc., the Mod. Syr. uses the nouns terminating in 2* ; e. g.
? 2&3LX , 2cf£Z9 lia^Ji . We retain, however,

3 Aflu and its plural, for want of any suitable term in

the modern for hypocrite.

VERB OF EXISTENCE.

and AJ are both used, as in the Anc. Syr., to express

' 4.

the idea of possession, and that constantly ; e. g. u^ &*2 /

have, ^ftA X*2 thouhast, etc., literally, there is to me, "est
^^ i ' f ^

mihi." When we refer to indefinite past time, ioof is to be

V * •" 4.'

inserted ; as ^ >LaC7 Xu^ there was not to us. In order to
v i i

express future possession, we employ the future of the verb

; e. g. <J^ wOCT^ifUS 2f Of 5J3i much money will be to
^** i

171

thee. So it is used for the conditional: OV* X**W »^2 if there
be to her, i. e. if she have.

It may be mentioned in this connection that such forms

as the ancient u»X»2 I am, w*C7O<\*^ it is not he, are not at

' ' ' K-

all allowable in the modern language. Nor are TU2 and

AuJ* joined with participles ; as

ADVERBS.

Adverbs in the Mod. Syr., as in the Ancient (Hoff. § 147,
2), are often repeated, like other parts of speech, to denote
intensity. Examples have already been given.

Care should be taken not to confound ii5L*2 , used as an
adjective, with the same word used as an adverb. Thus,
jax*»2 Jftaia k-.cv-^ <*2sio means bring the other girl, while
the expression >LiX**2 ^Siaia wCV^t wj» means bring the girl
again.

Two negatives are very often used in Modern Syriac to
increase the force of the negative ; e. g. ^*-«* & w»Xi£o fee?
we saw nothing ; A^aufl ^^* i^ & VI I do not at all know •
tS^ 4p 07 there is none at all. This differs from ancient
usage (Hoff. § 147, 4), but corresponds to that of the Turk-
ish and the Persian. As an example of the latter take
(ALo ^4J j^- ,?sAp he sees nothing.

When there are several negative propositions in the same
sentence, each verb should properly have its own negative ;
e. g. »jvS>fryS>8 ZjfcO ^^uMOuB ?Jt they did not rise and go
out. Still, if the second verb be not at all emphatic, the
second 2Jk may be omitted.

PREPOSITIONS.

The most important peculiarities of these have been noted
in the Etymology. They are used very much like the cor-
responding prepositions in the ancient language.

172

The phrases >»^^ »S>*3 , ^fti^Ji ^0\>3 , etc., which
are in common use, deserve notice. We may literally trans-
late them : between me to myself, between thee to thyself, i. e. with-
out any advice or help from others. Compare the ancient

OVX*Vv\ w 0704*3 . The modern A*3 also conforms in
f i i > i f V ' '

other respects to the ancient »a>3 ; e. g. ancient Ov^o ^v>3 ,
modern CJJ>2o ^oA»3, between thee and him. A*3, how-
ever, in the modern lang. is more usually repeated ; thus,
5^fiJjk*3O tA»3 between me and thee. See both construc-
tions with 'pSj in Hebrew (Nordh. § 1041, 1, a, b). It may
also be remarked that A>*3 sometimes means including; e. g.

1*4 '' k» »-* ' ».* ' 1

MjJJb Jk>!1 includinq all of them ; /aiUVXSO Z&i2 ij>*3 includ-

t *J •/ iii i

ing men and women.

CONJUNCTIONS.

In the Modern Syriac ^» is often omitted ; e. g.
Z&2 3>y, w»a*l two (or) three men. So in Anc. Syr. (Hoff.
§ 149, 1, b). So in the Turkish. On the other hand, it is often

$ f I *^ ^ i I

repeated at the head of successive clauses ; e. g. i»2 »-» IU2 L*

• . » > v»

either I or you. Compare o2 o2 in Ancient Syriac.

' ' L '

In the same way we repeat Jao2. Ouf o J&o2 jStVlfl J&ol

both the king and vizir (Hoff. § 149, 2). So with >t*O7 , which
corresponds to tJ^o2 , and is more used by the people.

Sometimes O is omitted ; very often, indeed, in common
conversation, a is also vulgarly substituted for O in such
expressions as ***'2a f <X*X Iwaz and they, i. e. Iwaz and his
companions.

PHRASES.

It will be useful to learners, and not without interest to
those who would compare the Modern Syriac with its cog-
nate dialects, to give a small collection of the peculiar

173

idioms and phrases with which the language abounds.
Many have indeed already been given in the examples used
to illustrate the Syntax. Those which follow are noted
down as they occur, without any attempt at system.

jL»9OZ9 tJtf'2 VlS toOfoAftt his business will go upon the

i " •• • , • , , ., , ' <«

road, i. e. will prosper; uw*SO2 JkX OOOT X0OJ&V. they were

V ^ £ ^ ^. 4.' x

looking on my road, i. e. awaiting my arrival ; wXVd J3L> ^t9op

•• ' 4. * V-. •

we gave heart for them, i. e. comforted them ; IfQ+JB ASbl Y13 OC7

I i x '* ' " "

he will eat sticks, i. e. be beaten ; ^EL* t*Xft2 late care, i. e. took

pains, or had trouble; ? »fl>T o"cV3 2a*-*2 ^^ X*aa^3 /am

< i a a

pouring (putting) Aand to #ia£ business, i. e. I am beginning.

This idiom is even used as follows : J4oo*iocp> 2ah*2 2^33

» * •< 'v_' ' ' '' ''

he poured hand to speak. ^>o 2x-2 X^i "3 he will throw off

hand from us, i. e. will withdraw countenance or support ;
the head of the nest, applied to the oldest child ;
they fell to the road, i. e. they set out;

iX Z39hX tXft every sheep on his own legs,
i. e. every man on his own responsibility; wOfO

it arrived to his hand, i. e. it reached him ; u*CfOX^>L3

i i a

it fell to his hand, at times used for what comes accidentally.
Sometimes we say u»>-*3LA *x£a ?Jk it will not fall to my

' ' " '' i* - 4 * •''

hand, i. e. I cannot (do so and so). £j>laJk, Z3& it drew

much, i. e. it took much time ; i*-» /&&&&& he is black-faced,
i. e. he is guilty or disgraced; iX^ ^i^ab**- he is white-faced,

i. e. he is innocent ; Jj»- iloJS wOVObXa his head is hard,

f i i ,•

i. e. he is obstinate; ,?><Vt ocja ^OJQ »ao2 *\&8 ^ I can-

• " -^> i*

wo£ enfer &e/ore iAa^ business, i. e. I cannot undertake it ;

qjiftitfr* ukSOf ^^ta* 2aJaUk9 /aw a7oiw7 Ao»e ^*om you, i. e. I ex-

^*i a I • i' H m ii m 4*4.

ercise hope in regard to you ; OOfft ^o >\yV^ 3A k*07O&a
Aeoo7 o'oes not go out from that business, i. e. he does

174

not understand it, is unable to accomplish it ; uCfO*3

I cannot with Mm, i. e. cope with ; i-*^* ^V^*** >X*Mu the fruit

has arrived, i. e. is ripe ; wCToVlia 2xdLX >.bo jS^aX XaVlcr

> « v • I* » • >

Ae cfrc£ #iws yrora $e roo£ of his ear, i. e. from necessity ;
/tfxS ZJt u*Pf<XiOC7 Ais understanding does not cut, i. e. he
does not understand ; iXA2 O*o%^ Z*&X uS? j9owr ^eoce orc
that man, i. e. salute him kindly ; i-ba .?S.y,S^ Ae wen* 0w2,

i. e. he turned out, a drunkard ; ]^**3LJO,3 !*+• ^o Vl9 /
will strike back on Christ, i. e. I will take refuge in, I will go to
for support ; Jj^* 5^jft*V>fr your pleasure it is, i. e. let it be

as you please ; 2i>AXf >A07 2a>o^ ^e from great to small,
i.e. all; 2aL*i ^»*H*IPL\ to strike /lattery, i.e. to flatter;
jwOfoVvS Okiks ^UObYMLiB you rose in his face, i. e. rose against,
were opposed to him ; »lj^\ 3 v\)fr* it reached my soul, i. e. I

was driven to extremity ; i^L* 4AX\**i4tt >nxfl the cold has

' *L V ' '

smitten you, i. e. you have taken cold ; ^J> uV*«J>fl sweeten us,

i. e. forgive us; ixi2 OOfA ^9 ^Sy!»\X Z-^ Jcfo not break from
that man, i. e. I do not cower before him ; Z^*~ft^ ^3U> our

heart opened, i. e. we became happy ; 2j»*j^ ^ftJL^ your
heart remained, i. e. you were not hearty (in the business),
or you were displeased ; ?J^* 2a^2 ^9Ld it is before the hand,

i. e. at hand ; i^W J&JUAa b»C70JQ*2a his breath is ridden,
i. e. is quick, as of a dying man ; 3. Vyft"! nCyqaS his heart

l> H I II

burned, often in the sense of compassionating another, as,
my heart burned for him. So the Nestorians speak of the
heart as boiling, cooling, freezing, etc. The meaning of

these figures is obvious. &* Z»J«£> y»oyA»>*1 his knees

,i H i i,

it X LJt ^ • ' $ • L

are stopped, i. e. he is wearied out ; ZA* ;roOhdL craxoi

175

her foot is heavy, i. e. she is pregnant ; *UO0jLJt ?V&i it fell to
my understanding, i. e. I comprehended; <UViao»SocT TLAJS.3

/ ii |i //

cook your words, i. e. speak with deliberation ; W-* M*3UJ Z*BO»*B
i/ie Aorse is cooJced, i. e. he is hardened to heat and cold, etc. ;
Zi2 these how many years, i. e. these many years ;

2x&£w Z~ a ten days, i. e. ten days ; AA »>P A»X

r // ^^ / 9

on your neck, i. e. the responsibility is on you. So the phrase
" on your head." *4l3a Za->4U» a seer of face, i. e. a time-

«/ / * v V •

server ; Zlita Z^w 2aL*o2 he has entered upon years, i. e. he is
growing or has grown old ; ZA*«.fl) Zs- Z***^
irz^ swimming, i. e. they are swimming ; 2x£o~

* A^

ft/y ^Ae to&Ze, i. e. ask a blessing ; ^0£O07 ^9 *Lfl

yow Aave ^one out from your mind, i. e. as we say, you are out

of your head ; uCtfoaoc^ *3Tl£o Z-^ ^XiOOlf ?/«Mr under-

I » W > ^* »

standing do not put on his understanding, i. e. do not compare
yours with his.

SALUTATIONS.

A few of the more common will be given below. It will
be seen that some of them are rather Oriental than peculiar
to the Nestorians.

One who first speaks to another says 4^& ?T**T peace

to thee, to which the reply is 4&J&Jt "2 ?.iu.l*1 in peace thou hast

$ i ^*» i1 >
come, or, simply, ZWtB. On taking leave, one says

fci!Bi>JQ>3 4^A^aft (of uncertain derivation), equivalent to
good-bye. Instead of this, we also hear Zv*X3 >XA^ remain

in peace. At evening, a common salutation is ?'*V^ 5MBJtboa
(may) your evening (be) blessed. After a death or some
calamity has befallen a house, a visitor says to the inmate
?fftiJQ>3 ZAC? ^BJta may your head be comfortable, or com-
forted. When a man puts on a new coat, his friend says to

176

•
him /aiia>»a^1 X*OCf may it lie blessed. On receiving a favor,

• ' * t 4._ { j j

one replies iiauJQia xlACf , where ?aft»ftL3 seems to be
nearly equivalent to ,?S»Vl may you be happy or blessed.

* ' A ' 5 45 '

After dinner, the guest says to his host ^ft\ X»ftto io&l

may God increase you. If one enters a field, he says to the
laborer *VAAd ^ftj>3gp lc^2 way GW give you strength.
At the commencement of a feast or a wedding, the invited
person says Za>.*^3 10C7 5^pa?X may your feast (or wed-
ding) be blessed. If a host wishes to be specially polite, he

4. V "* mm ' •

says to his guest ^A-V*\2 »l>\ *X9 ike head of my eyes,
you have come. If one inquires about another's circumstan-
ces, the reply often is M* wuJ&^ uAbo72 4^Ail\OA ^ofrom,
your wealth (or bounty) my condition is good. Sometimes he
says " from the bounty of God and yours." An inferior,
when asked by a superior about his health, often gives no

reply except 5HBbV? your servant. A person wishing to

^"' *' * • *

abase himself before another, says ^fti*1>ftiB ^C7 may /

be your sacrifice. One, on seeing something wonderful, often
exclaims 2cfrVl\ /Si**OJ3Ut*X glory to God! When he wishes
to commend another, he says ^AsV. ?..*ftfl>?3 may your soul
be sound, equivalent to bravo.

POETRY.

We have made some attempts, and, as we think, not un-
successfully, to introduce sacred poetry into the Modern
Syriac. The language is sufficiently flexible and sufficiently
imaginative, and we have already quite a collection of
hymns, both original and translated. The following is a
translation of 'Cowper's beautiful hymn, " There is a foun-
tain filled with blood," which seems to have lost none of its
beauty in this strange dress.

177

oral a

Zicr

cro&aoo

: f X .'.. XO

H » •

i1 1

iadua *-

178

cf
iia »&**»* lib a- oV?

:<Ai..nT3 zaA uA lAoc?

>>*i

JOHN CHAPTER VII.

As some who may read the preceding grammar will have
no access to our books, it is not out of place to transcribe a
few verses from the seventh Chapter of John. They are a
simple and familiar translation of the corresponding verses
in the Ancient Syriac.

c-A Zacr

OUBCT

.Z-?oc5-? ZtJaxaa laZX Zocr Z^ai

' ' '

If o :

9oM aoula Zxai ViAa aaJo a

I I II

179

OOCT

III ml I II II I ,1 II I

VtAS ^jttOMB NO-' Z30U3 Zi2? AaUO : ZxJO

I » v // • » I1

29492 1&2 .

oof
,> a

oocy u^jL Z-?O

» i> • »'i'»>

ol Zocr Vu2 Zaa ^YnV^SCn i o'er Z^,- Zawi 0007

» »' »~ H »

ooc?

Zi-2 .

ooor Z&l^ao

2or'2

29J»ia

180

Z-f"a

a^Lba o* <<?*»<a*ia

II * H |1

// II I I I

ocf a laJSU i*^sa o'er

?,>V3L3

t ixoaiai

J3C7 bA-a z'i-2 :

t *» t

.
> > «

Z-xx

APPENDIX.

IT is stated on page 45 of this Grammar, that some effort
had been made to note down as many verbal roots in com-
mon use as possible, but that most, if not every one, of the
lists of verbs given were probably still incomplete. Daring
the past year more than a hundred new verbs have been
collected, which will be found classified below. Many of
these verbs we have hitherto been unacquainted with, and
every succeeding year will of course add to their number.
We may thus hope to approximate in time to a complete
catalogue of the verbal roots in the Modern Syriac.

It would be a very interesting and profitable study to
trace the roots already written down to their primitive
source, so far as it can be ascertained, and I had intended
to make such an examination. But want of leisure com-
pels me to relinquish the idea. This I regret the less, as
every oriental scholar has the means of making the examin-
ation for himself. No doubt many of these roots have been
employed in daily intercourse from remote antiquity, and
yet, as intimated on page 8, may perhaps now be written
down for the first time.

An opportunity has been afforded me of reading eighty-
eight printed pages of the Grammar and furnishing for them
a table of errata. The printing is beautiful, and much ad-
mired by us, as well as by the Nestorians, and the errors of
the press are in general unimportant. The wonder is that,
under the circumstances, they are not of a more serious
character.

It should have been stated in the "INTRODUCTORY EE-
MARKS," that the matrices for the Syriac types with which
the Grammar is printed were prepared by Mr. Breath, one
of my missionary associates, who has from the first superin-
tended our press, and cut with great taste and skill all our
fonts of Syriac type, except in a single instance.*

D. T. STODDARD.

Oroomiah, Persia, May, 1855.

* See note at the end of this Appendix. COMM. OF PUBL.

VOL. v. 23 A

180b

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE fcO9hS, 1ST CLASS.

t M^

.la * 5 equivalent to

< Seep.82.

to come to nought, fade
away (as stars before the
sun)» t

^ to reduce to pulp, become umn V
""^ ^ pulp. "

to abrade.

^ to cave in, as a roof of
earth (also causative).

to split (tr. and intr.).

to starve (intr.).

$ to stop one's mouth (intr.),
l to become silent

to cement(cracked vessels).

to floor (an antagonist).

* 5 equivalent to
i See p. 81.

to invert.

to reduce to ruins, to be-
come a ruin.
to reduce to pulp. See

tojjs courageous, to as-

to be <luiet» to be famt
to prick, to pierce.

to make to squint, to squint.

to slip out of place, to dis-
charge a gun, to tear.

to suck in (as a leech).
to blow.

to 8]lt te and

to fade, bleach (intr.).
r to stick, adhere. Like
, p.71.

VEEBS INFLECTED LIKE

, 2ND CLASS.

to hiccup.

equivalent to
See p. 80.

.. u A-n
to be still.

to incite (to a contest).

,,-•, o

' j equivalentto*A*a. See

") _ Q1 "* '*

to reprove.

courageous.

to touch, feel of.

< equivalent to

< See p. 82.

Cto make damp, be damp.

i V x u

>,Tl > to be
v« »

« . *

»VxiC9 to saddle.
^

to go on foot.

{ , f , ,

\ forsake (as a bird for-

t sakes her nest).
».«.*•»

jbO A! ? make clean, become
. , ) clean.

180c

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE t&2&, p. 64.

to fill to the brim.

to dissolve (tr.).

# *

ft to perceive (by the eye). »JJQJ to stand on end (as the hair).
" «

*£ fo be Qr become

to snap make to roll (as
a marble).

-al i > to thrust See JQ3U*X,

•***'••* \ ll

" * C p. 51.

to roost.

$ to repent. See
^ p. 59.

p. 66.
A to go out, be extinguished.

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE i»a, p. 69.

.^4* , . , . • „ k S to be rooted out; when of

>»X. to indent, make a depression. ZU» < 2n^ class to root out

^WM» to castrate. ^9^ to bound back (as a ball).

Jy i> i,

to groan. iX to stray, run away.

< i1 •

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE ^CMbaCT , p. 80.

a i

to benumb, be benumbed. *^*CT to be pleased or gratified.
« /

tfl>S> V*1 to chew.

to make small, to make
round, to become small
or round.

to cause to cave in (as
a mine), to cave in.

to trample.

to in.clte ' to mortlfy (as
a diseased part).

AOT 5 to make to hesitate, to
fi.l hesitate.

to button, be buttoned.

'o-keorbecomemuddy.

' < equivalent to UPOJPO.
„ S » < See p. 81. " '

to bark' to croak-
to embolden, be bold.

S t° tear (cloth) (tr. and
> intr.).

to laugh immoderately.

180 d

to dazzle.

• ' < to put out (leaves) ; to
**** * \ break out (as sores).

to spill (tr. and intr.).

< to dig into, to pick the
( teeth.

< to mix up in confusion,
I be mixed.

( to tick (as a clock), to ring
•< (as metals). Also used
(in a causative sense,
to mix up, etc., as

k&aaJ*.

// i

to beat with a switch, to
smart (as if from such a
blow).

to pant from heat, to sob.
H i

\^A& to be curved or bent

<> IT,

to clank (as chains),
to make a hedge.

to tickle, be tickled.

$ to interweave, be inter-
) woven.

A VV SL to ijcjj up<
^ " ^ '

$ to loosen (as a pin in its
> socket) (tr. and intr.).

to trample down.

to make firm, confirm.

to gather (as pus).

S to reconcile, unite in
\ friendship.

\..TV> to be a wanderer.
." '/

to prick up (the ears).

to make to pant, to pant

( to make damp, become
\ damp.

< to graft, to be or become
\ grafted.

< to dam up and swell (as
\ water).

5 to breathe hard (through
^ the nose).

to wedge in. be wedged.

to snort

I to be or become consoli-
( dated.

to pave (with stone, etc.).

^jt ' ( to cause fair weather, to
S ( become fair.

to have darting pains.

' ( to place upright, to stand
' >(

to cackle.

JjA^ j to arch, bow down (with
77 ^ » ( age) (tr. and intr.).
Bi,l j to reduce to powder, be

age) (tr. and intr.).
o reduce to powder,
reduced to powder.

to have colic.

to heave with emotion.
to shiver with cold.

%%^ j to make musty, become
*(

musty.
( to beautify, become
beautiful. "

5LOaJ6 to crack (as an egg) (intr.).

t0 Sag' hang d°Wn'

LSbSv -I *° 8nrm^ UP' Cri
„ , 1 (tr. and intr.)

l 5 to be boiled to pieces.
1 fall to pieces. '

180 e

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE JiOXS . p. 86.

•

to soil, be soiled.

c to snap (as a board when

] broken). See JLdXX,
< P- 86. " '

to run mad.

to be bold, to dare.

• iijg ( to advance (in age and
PI stature).

^3^=09^ to starve.

i" » it

. - '

If 3f to be affected or moved.

VERBS INFLECTED LIKE i*O«i , p. 86.

, See p. 86. ^Bft.d to howl, as £f Of , p. 86.
i' i1

[JVbte. — To Mr. Stoddard's acknowledgments to Mr. Breath, with
which we are happy to unite our own, it is proper to add a word of re-
cognition of the labor and skill bestowed by Mr. S. S. Kilburn, type-
cutter attached to the Type and Stereotype Foundry of Messrs. J. K.
Rogers & Co., Boston, in recutting several of the letters and points, and
making some important additions to the font.

COMM. OF PUBL.]

180 f

CORRECTIONS.

Page 5, lines 21-22,ybr modern language, read written character.
" 7, " 6, for SCRIPTURE TRACTS " SCRIPTURE FACTS.
" 12, " 15, " pp. 10, 11 " p. 13, Note 3.

«( u « j~ (i

" " last line,

/ i

" 13, line 1, " ilOXl " jlox2.

" 17, " 9,

« « « 13,

« 18, « 8,

u « « 15>

« 21, « 1,

" 23, « 14,

" 24, lines 20-21, for what to me, " what may be, etc.

" " line 23, place a period after what

" « « gg^ jQr ^3^ may, rcorf that may be.

" 25, " 6, " ^» " ^1.

" « « 10, « cf « cr .

••

" 27, " 11,

« 29, « 24,

" 32, " 12, " weta " " weta. ''

« 35, « 3,4,

« 39, " 17,

* The vowel — should never be placed on final 2 , and wherever printed
thus in the Grammar, it must be understood to be a slip, and the _*_ must be
placed on the preceding consonant

180g

Page 39, line 22, for coming before read coming upon.
« 48, " 19,

« 49, •' 20, "

" 50, " 5, " to string, as peppers, read to sting (as pepper

does the mouth).
" 54, " 25, " may replied, read may be replied.

" 55, " 16, " MOO/ " u»aC7.

i >

" " " 22, erase the comma after as well as — .

" 58, " 15, for iVnS^, read \t^ .

" 61, " 15, " If " 2f.

a <•

" 63, " 20, " JtX^ " O.2&.

" 64, " 19, « " " "

• # i''

" " near the bottom, after 9 JL» , insert *9Z*fe to be worth.

II ^

" 67, line 1, for A^J read

« 75, « 7, « '

" « « 16, «

" 76, near the middle, for 7>\\.*t read ,?»\

<' i

" 78, line 3, /or , read

" 79, " 26, "

" 81, " 18, "

" " last line but one, for <\iVA read
^*'> t, i

" 82, line 16, for >.>..S.Y» »

^ // i

" 83, " 3, " tiyBaJk - \fi\\ .

~ // ~

* In a number of cases ft appears without its point, it having been broken
of£ probably, in printing. This, however, is of little consequence, unless it
lead to a confusion of A and A . The former seems always to have its point

180 h

Page 84, line 6,' for X3tV> read
a i

11 85, " 22, " JfcWn>«i "

I1 »

" 86, " 4, " TJPOuCP «

" " last line, "
' " " at the bottom, add to the list of verbs :
2f Of to howl.

A^ j to howl ; also, as used in Koordistan,
3

to glitter

" 88, first line, for %*& read

" " line 17, " The future, " The 1st pers. future.

MISCELLANIES

I. LETTER FROM REV. J. L. PORTER OF DAMASCUS, CONTAINING
GREEK INSCRIPTIONS, WITH PRES. WOOLSEY'S REMARKS ON THE
SAME.

Damascus, 27<A April, 1854.

Dear Sir : — The following inscriptions were copied during a jour-
ney made in the Hauran by the Rev. Mr. Barnett and myself, in
February, 1853. We saw and copied many others; but as some of
them are unimportant, and others already printed, I do not consider
it necessary to trouble you with them. So far as I know, those
which I now send have never been taken, or at least have never been
published.

The following are from the village of Hiyat, on the north-western
slope of the Jebel Hauran. The ruins on which No. 2 is found
appear to be of an older date than the inscription.

ABCBOCAT
MOTKAIATMOC
TIOICABAOT
eiOTTO
ONHOIHCAN

3.
nPOKAOCATMOT

NTMHAHNC^IAI
WNTIiePATMOT
TIOTAN€0HK€N

MANOCQAIMOT
KAITIOIATTOTC
AWKANCKTHC
OIKOAOMK A
XVAACX€IA
ACKATHNCT
PANCTC6BOTN
CKTOKTPIwN

From Hit, an ancient town about one mile in circumference, half
an hour S. E. of the former :

AIAI DCMAZIM DCCnAPXOC

THIIATPIAleKTICeNAlAHPWAOr

HPWAOTIAIOYKAIAIA

*IAinnOTMAAXOTKAI

AAAOTAKPABANOT

CIIIMeAHlWN

184

•MAinilCAOTK

PJ€TA5€0>CAOT
KOCOCMNM ACTNHTAI (?)
C K 0 C M € N CO N C T I P A 0

AM«f>€PAYACOCTN

HAPAKOITIKAITC

NOIClelCKACOCA

N
INA

HAT

KAICAAAMANMC

The following are in Bathanyeh, a ruined and now deserted town
one hour N. 37 E. from Hit. This is the Arabic form of the Greek
Batanaea. The whole of the Jebel Hauran, from the plain on the
North to Sulkhad on the South, with the exception of a narrow strip
along the western base, is called Ardh el-Bathanyeh (x*iiJ5 (jaj\ ).
According to information received on the spot, I believe this district
is much more extensive than is represented in the Appendix to your
Biblical Researches. It is unquestionably the Batanaea of Josephus.
The ruins of Bathanyeh are about a mile in circumference, and con-
tain many large and substantial buildings, with massive stone doors.
I think it has never been visited.

6.
AVCOCIAVTOV0CO

pocn ACI 0 «vo VN e

IMOCABIBOVANA
MOCTAVTOVZOB6

AOCNATAMCAOVni

— (?)

CTViANereiPAN

TOTVXIONCK
TOTH ~

7. 8.

A1PHA KCIIPICKOCC* CTATO
OCOM VK€H<|€<1P

AIMOT
AWPO
C€T
OIN
N€

A€ITOCK€N€CTa>PIC

ArAGHTVXH
AV2IA€B€Ano>
AAAAAHANHKAA
HTtoniCTwMAA
XOCKCOCHBeOVKe

NOV
KwMC

CNA

At the ruined town of Suleim, 1 h. 35 m. S. by W. from Shuhba,
are the remains of a beautiful temple. The portico has fallen, but
on a large stone among its ruins we succeeded after much difficulty
in copying the following inscription. It appears from it that this is
the site of the ancient Neapolis mentioned in the Notit. Eccles. in
connexion with Canatha, Dionysias and others. (See C. a. S. Paulo,
Geogr. Sac. p. 295.) The letters are well cut, but are now much
defaced.

185

MNHMAMEOPAIEIIEPIKAAAEEAOIAIMONAI
ENOAITAIEEOIAEMOTKOTIIEPBEIIEAEIAWN
AOHOEEnTEPOT*INOOAEHETET5E0E
OTAlOTHTITETArMAirHPAAEOTEAE^AI
HAIATAPNEONOTnOTEHANnANEIMlA
AATirOTATOEKAINTHPIIANTEEINETOIHOE
TIAElBTIwNOIETEIIOATIIPeoTirHPAEIOT
ENEAAOENEOnOAITHEOIKOAOMHEENETTYX

On the right side of the entrance-gate of the Castle of Sulkhad,
is the following inscription in rude characters, and now nearly
illegible.

10.

AFAeHTTXH BOPAOCCA

0AMOCNACM CIIKKOnOICKT

CA0AOCCIXMO WNTOT0COTCKTIOA

BACCOOOTAniOT €TOTC PM

The large and very ancient town of Kurdyeh is situated in the
stony plain at the foot of the mountains, an hour and a half N. 84
E. of Busrah. Few cities in the Hauran are of greater extent, and
none of more remote antiquity. It is probably the Kerioth men-
tioned by Jeremiah, with Bozrah and Beth-gamul (Jer. 48 : 23 and
24). On an old tower I made out with much difficulty the follow-
ing inscription.

11.

I<J>A0HCAMIM£C€OC

CTMBIOtfANNACKCAF NOK + CAAANOM

TICATOM€ MAPIN € CCArOA

The following inscription we found on a large stone at an ancient
temple, beside the village of Hebr&n. This village, or rather town,
is finely situated on the summit of a lofty hill, S. 1 8 W. of the
Kuleib, distant about an hour and a half. The stone now forms
part of the roof of a large chamber of comparatively recent con-
struction ; but wholly composed of the ruins of the temple. We
were informed by the old man who led us to the spot, that it was
only lately brought to light by the removal of the clay and lime
with which the roof had been covered. It is important as contain-
ing a well known date, and celebrated names.

VOL. v. 24

186

12.

1. rnEPEwTHPIAEKXPIOTKAIEAPOETITITAIAIOT

AAPIANOTANT(«NEIN«T

2. EEBAETOTETEEBOTEONAOEEKTWNIEPATIKOJN

EKTIE0HETOTEOKTWKAI

3. AEKATOTANTWNEINOTKAIEAPOEnPONOHEAMENWN

APIETEIAOTOAIM°TOAI0EAOT

4. EMMEnA°TEMMErANHXAMENOTErAKUN0AIM°T

ABXop°TEN°rMAEEX°TEMMErANNAP°TIEP<>TAMIUN

This is one of the most beautiful inscriptions I have ever seen in
this country. It is now as perfect as the day it was finished.

Believe me, dear Sir, yours very truly and respectfully,

J. L. PORTER.
Rev. Dr. ROBINSON, New York.

REV. DR. ROBINSON:

Dear Sir, — None of the inscriptions copied by Mr. Porter in
the Hauran, are to be found in Boeckh's collection. Burckhardt
visited the places called by Mr. Porter Hit, Sulkhad, Kureiyeh, He-
bran, but did not notice these inscriptions. Most of them are intel-
ligible ; but there are two or three of which I can make nothing.
I send you back the letter of Mr. Porter, to be published, if you
think fit, in the Journal of the Oriental Society, together with copies
of the inscriptions, corrected to the best of my power. I am in-
debted to Prof. Hadley for valuable suggestions.

1. "Afiefiog AvfJLOv xal Avfiog vldtg 2afiuov &EIOV z6 [ftvijfiEllov

The name Abebus is found in No. 5, — there spelt Abibus, and in
Bceckh's C. I., n. 4560, where it is Ababus. Aumus occurs in Xo.
3. I have written Safidov for ' Afi&ov, because the former is else-
where to be met with, and one of the sigmas may easily have been
overlooked. See No. 10.

2. Mavog 6attuov xal viol aUrov UStaxav ex TTJJ olxoSo/^txr^; ? * *
Below I seem to read Xedlag, i. e. Xdiag, and then follows what
may be xal T^V Styav etiatfiovv . ixw xvguav suggests ex r&v twv
xvglwv. Comp. £x jG>v TOV xvqlov, B. n. 4523. For Thaimus, see
No. 10.

3. Ugoxlo; Atyov TU 0ew ibv ravvfirfiijv £% Idiwv tntf) Avpov vlov

187
In B. n. 4596 there is mention of a Theopliilus, who ibv ravv-

4. Aftiog Md&juog enugxog TTJ narQidi, HxTiaev Jtd 'Hgtidov cHQ(L5ov
idlov, xal 8iu (InklTinov M&.k%ov, xal ".Addov 'Axgafiuvov £7ii[ielr]T(av.

What does Idiov mean ?

5. With the necessary corrections in the text, this inscription runs
thus :

"Oifiie tivdytiv (Mkimre dovxrjvfyie TiH-ecag dovx6g, og ftv^ua aiiv
aii^T] (?) £x •tiefisl.lwv tyelgug, a/uptyei/jag oiiv ifisia. Ttagaxofri, xal
rexvoig elg xltog &el, xal 2aka[i<ivq$.

The word writen quit in the original may be a proper name. As
I read, the sense is that Philip, a ducenarius, reared the tomb with
a court or open place about it from the foundations, and roofed it
around together with his wife and children. The last words xal
^ala/ndvrjg seem to be added afterwards. Do they indicate that a
person of that name became owner or was buried in the tomb ?
Salamanes is the name of a Syrian deity in B. n. 4449, 4451.

After reading what Gothofred (Cod. Theodos.), Ducange (Gloss.
Med. et Inf. Grsec.), and Rein in Pauly's Real-Encycl. have said about
ducenarii, I cannot feel quite sure what the ducenarius cohortis duds
here spoken of was, and must leave the determination of the point
to persons better acquainted with the institutions of the later Roman
empire. The very rare word &fj-(fr^e^ag (if that be the true reading),
might easily be misspelt by the stone-cutter.

6. Avao; ravrov •freugbg riaai&etvov, ]\r£vog 'Afilfiov, "Ava[ios
rafaov, Zofiedog NaxafA&ov 'eniox&iai, (?) ^.v^siqoiv TO rv/elov £x
T&V TTJ[? yroAewg]. QeuQog may be a proper name, perhaps mis-
copied : if it is an official title we should read H&crig Qelvov.
Narufi&ov ought to be perhaps Nmavailov. ravrog occurs more
than once in Syrian inscriptions, and the same is true of Zufiedog,
spelt Zofi&dog. Comp. B. n. 4518, 4519, 4604, 4613, 4635 for the
former, and n. 4560, 4573 for the latter. The name Sanamus, as
read by Franz in B. n. 4567, 4658, must, I think, be identified with
Anamus of this inscription.

7. Al'Qrjdog ' Ofial^iov awgog IT&V te. (or e. simply ; N being for / or
repeated by mistake).

A name " Ovaivog is found in B. n. 4559, 4574, and is perhaps the
true reading here.

8. I can make next to nothing of this. At the top appears xal
Ilglaxog icflaraio, which is to be taken, perhaps, as following the
last words xaVAenog xal JVeaw>()tg. Below &^a&^ tv^rf the name of
some one ano xdfiyg may have been mentioned.

9. This interesting and well preserved inscription in hexameters,
with the necessary corrections, is as follows :

188

uotSiuov

KCTT* 8e (Uou xa&vTiEQfte neleiduav 86/uo? alnvg
Poiiquvog Si |U'£T£v|e, -freov d'l6Tt]Ti ritaynai,
yrj()ateov; 8i£aa&at,, diup viov ofcioTe nu^ma
elfil 8' cUuTttiraTOj xXtir^, n<ivT£(Taiv trot/tog
vldat &' vltavolg ie Tioij) TTQOTI yrj^aj lovaiv.
Alviadog JVetmotiTJjs olxodopijaev.

In line 1, /"« is unelided and oQatg is owing to the stone-cutter's
making the straight mark of E twice. In 1. 2, it seems necessary
to read ECTI for EOT, and in KOTIIEPBE, A must have been
overlooked by the copyist, and O and B read wrong for 0, which is
the easier mistake in the second instance, as its square form in the
rest of the inscription resembles B. For this form, the oldest speci-
mens of which belong to the century before our era, comp. Franz,
Elem. Epigraph. Grace, p. 281. For M in lines 3 and 6 resembling
H, see the same work, p. 245. EnT2, in 1. 2, is a common mis-
spelling of the stone-cutter for AIIIT2. So perhaps in the name
jtlvtado?, which is unique. IIPQTI in 1. 6 is another mistake of
the stone-cutter. In the same line 2IN must be supplied. JVco-
TiollTijg is singular.

Was the cote for wild pigeons built to keep them from tenanting
and defiling the tomb ? For the conceit expressive of a wish that all
the posterity of the proprietor may die old, comp. another Syrian
inscr. in B. n. 4598, where we read

uulu 5e|o//at, EVT' &
noil atfiieQov ^tozrj? nengtafiivov

10. '^ya
Otilntov, Bdjxiog 2a\j3<iov ?1 inlaxonot, !x r5n>

I read S&fiuog for Sdd-aog. The former name is found in B. n.
4626, and may easily be derived from a Semitic root, while B can
with equal ease be confounded with 0 . (See the last inscr.) A
Bassus son of Ulpius occurs in an inscription found by Burckhardt
at Kefr el-Loehha. Comp. B. n. 4585. It is strange that that dis-
tinguished traveller should have overlooked the present inscription
over the castle-gate of Sulkhad, which he visited, and where he
found the same name Bassus (B. n. 4641). The year, if of the
Pompeian era, answers to A. D. 178 ; if of the era of Bostra, to A. D.
243. See Franz, in the Addenda to B. vol. 3, p. 1182, who there
decides in the case of a neighboring town in favor of the latter era.

11. I make nothing out of this inscription. A few words, as
avftfiov, txuaa tt> ^tvr^ia and -itxvor, may be traced.

189

12. tinty ffWTijgla; xvgtov Kalaagos Tlwv Altiov 'Adgi&vov 'Avrco-
velvov Sefi&arov Etiffefiovg 6 vabg EX i5>v Isgcftixiov exrla&T] BTOVS tixiia.
xaidex&wv ' Avrtavslvov Kalact(x>g, nQovorjaa^,i.vMv 'AgiaTeldov, Qoti^uov,
' Ocet&ttov (?), 'E/ufitnlov, ' Efifis-favrfxa^ivov (?) txdixuv, Qatyov, ' ' A$-
xfyov, "Evov, Maatyov, 'Enfisyavv&Qov IsqorafJi&v.

This inscription belongs to A. D. 155 or 156. The fifth name is
so portentously long as to excite suspicion that two names may be
contained in it, as 'Efifie^avy&^ov Xa^iivov. The letters following
this name seem to belong to ixdlxuv, a word used by Cicero to de-
note the syndics or counsellors of towns in Asia Minor. (Epist. in
Fam. 13, 71.)

We find in these inscriptions a number of Syrian proper names
which are to be met with upon other monuments, and some nine-
teen which are new. To the former class belong Abebus, Sabaus,
Thaimus, Malchus, Salamanes, Gautus, Zobedus, Natanaelus, Onai-
nus. To the latter, so far as I have examined, belong Aumus, Ma-
nus, Addus, Acrabanus, Ausus, Pasitheinus (?), Ncnus, Anamus,
Airedus, Naemus, Sichmus, Bordus, Oaithelus (?), Emmeplus, Emme-
gannarus, Abchorus, Enus, Masechus. Some of these are readily
traceable to Semitic roots, and even have equivalents in the Scrip-
tures. Thus with Naemus we may compare Naam (1 Chron. 4:15),
from Qi>3 to be sweet; with Bordus, Bered (1 Chron. 7 : 20); with
Sichmus, Shechem (1 Chron. 7:19). Would it not repay some one
skilled in the Semitic dialects to make a collection of the Syrian
names found upon the monuments and trace them to their roots ?

T. D. WOOLSEY.

EL ARMENIAN TRADITIONS ABOUT MT. ARARAT.

WE have before us a communication from Rev. H. G. O. Dwight,
American Missionary at Constantinople, on Mount Masis, as the
resting-place of the ark after the deluge. We extract from it some
Armenian traditionary notices concerning places in the neighbour-
hood of that locality.

The mountain on which, according to ancient Armenian tradition,
and the general opinion of the learned in Europe, the ark of Noah
rested after the deluge, is called in Armenian \fuiu[iu t Masis, and
in Turkish cLL £\ Aghur Dagh, i. e. Heavy Mountain. This moun-
tain is situated almost in the centre of ancient Armenia, in the valley
of the river Araxes, bearing North 57° East from Nakhichevan, and
South 25° West from Erivan.

COMM. OF PUBL.

190

On the eastern side of Mt. Ararat is the district of Arnoiodn
Yfn-bynu!b , which name is composed of three Armenian Avords,
namely, mn_ ar, at, "|,iy Noi, Noah, nwl odn, foot, i. e. " at Noah's
foot" or " feet," the singular being often put, in the Armenian, for
the plural. The tradition is, that Noah, in descending from the ark,
first planted his feet on the ground in this district.

Near by, in the same district, is a village called Argoori |^i£ni_«^,
from uipli arg, the preterite third person singular of uifi^iuLlr^ arga-
nel, to plant, and nuiJfe oori, willow, i. e. "ho (Noah) planted the
willow."

Farther to the East, towards Tabriz, is the town of Marant
^'uiftuLi^.^ a name which the Armenians derive from two words, «%//*
mair, mother, and utlij. ant, there, i. e. " the mother is there," the cur-
rent tradition being that the wife of Noah was interred in that place.

But the most singular of all these traditionary etymologies is that
of the well known town of Nakhchevan, or more properly Nakhi-
chevan. In the Armenian, this name is composed of two words,
"Luiki nakh, first, and fe^k-uib ichevan, descent, or resting-place, i. e.
" the first descent" or " the first resting place," which they say is the
first place of abode built by Noah and his sons after the flood.

Whatever may be the fact in regard to the other names men-
tioned, this one is known by other than Armenian authority to be
quite ancient. Nor can it be accounted for on the ground that the
Armenians devised this name in order to give strength to their tradi-
tion about Mt. Ararat and the ark ; for it is proved by ancient his-
torians of other nations, that both the name and the tradition existed
hundreds of years before the Armenians embraced Christianity, when
they were heathen idolaters, and knew nothing of Bible-history.
Josephus, as has already been mentioned, refers to this very place,
not giving its Armenian name, but the translation of it in Greek,
and also recording the tradition of the Armenians, then a heathen
people, in regard to its origin. His words are : " The Armenians
call this place the place of descent; for, the ark being saved in that
place, its remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day."*

The geographer Ptolemy, writing about one hundred and fifty years
after Christ, speaks of the town of Nakhichevan, under the Greek
form of Naxuana, which he locates just in that part of Armenia
where the present town of that name is found.f Now, as the Arme-
nians were not converted to Christianity until after the beginning of

* Ajrofiarnjiov HI'VTOI TOV r6nov TSTOV 'Ajutvioi xaXSaiv ix«T 70.? avacreo9-u'em TS Aaj
-vaxoi JJTVUV of iirixwfioi TO AinJ/ava iiriSjixvuscri. Jewish Antiq. B. 1, C. 3, § 5.
f Ptolem. Geog. Bk. 6, Ch. 2, as quoted by St. Martin.

191

the fourth century, this traditionary etymology of the name Nakhi-
chevan derives a remarkable corroboration from these historic records.
I know it has been asserted that a number of Jews emigrated to
Armenia before the Christian era,* and established themselves chiefly
in the valley of the Araxes, and that they may have given to the
town in question the name of Nakhichevan, in order to give cur-
rency to a national tradition of theirs connecting Mt. Ararat with
the ark. In regard to this I would say :

1. That it is a highly improbable thing that a comparatively
small body of Jewish emigrants should have given an Armenian
name to an Armenian town, where they happened to be living, in
order to give currency to a mere tradition connected with their own
religion, and that diametrically opposed to the religion of the coun-
try. Probably a parallel case cannot be found in the world.

2. It is still more improbable that the Armenians, while still hea-
thens, should so generally have adopted this name, and connected
with it a belief that it commemorated the event referred to, and that
the remains of the ark were still preserved in the immediate neigh-
borhood (as Josephus says they did), merely on the dictum of a band
of stranger Jews that had come to settle among them.

3. And even if this very improbable supposition were true, then
it very naturally follows that the Jews in question really believed
that Mt. Ararat was the mountain upon which the ark rested, which
certainly must be regarded as a much earlier tradition than any that
can be brought in favor of Mt. Joodi, in Koordistan, the only other
locality which has any substantial claims.

III. REMARKS ON Two ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS RECEIVED FROM

MOSUL.

No. 1.

No. 2.

THESE cuts represent in full size the designs engraved upon two
Assyrian cylinders which were sent to this country by the late Dr.
Henry Lobdell, missionary at Mosul, and are now deposited in the

* See Faust. Byzant. Bk. 4, Ch. 55, as quoted by St. Martin.

192

Cabinet of the Oriental Society. Where they were found we have
no precise information.

No. 1. is engraved upon a cylinder of red jasper, with a hole
through the length of it of which the bore is imperfect. It must
have been cut with some instrument like a graver's style of the
present day.

No. 2. is engraved upon a cylinder of bluish chalcedony, which
has a well bored hole running through it lengthwise. This appears
to have been executed by drilling.

Both are very interesting, especially for the light which they seem
to throw upon a common representation on the gypsum-slabs of
Nineveh, hitherto not satisfactorily explained. The design No. 1. is
said by Dr. Lobdell to be " very rare," and it is not known that
either of the designs has been found before upon Assyrian or Baby-
lonian cylinders. The relation of the two to each other, also, adds
to their value. Taken together, they in a great measure explain
themselves. But the researches relative to the worship of the cypress
among the nations of antiquity, by M. Lajard, published in the
Memoires de Vlnstitut, t. xx. Paris: 1854, confirm and complete
the explanation which mere inspection and comparison of the two
very naturally suggests. The following is the explanation which we
venture to propose.

In No. 1. the centre of the scene is the pyramidal cypress, which
represents by its androgynous nature the supposed union of the male
and female principles in the supreme divinity of the Assyrians, or, as
here, the female principle alone, which was personified by Mylitta.
Over the cypress is the sun's disk, with wings, crowned by two
serpents united at the tail, which represents the male principle of
the Assyrians, which was personified by Belus. The explanation
thus far is corroborated by the two objects delineated on the right
and left, respectively, of the tree.* The human figures facing the
tree, with heads raised to the sun's disk, and attired with wings, are
priests. Their action is two-fold. They are evidently lighting cones
of the cypress in the rays of the sun, and at the same time receiving
an effluence or radiation from the great source of heat and light,
which they direct upon the tree, or upon the symbols on either side
of it. This two-fold action signifies the union of the male and female
principles of deity, supposed to be the origin of creation.

* Can the symbolic use of the device on the left of the tree have any con-
nection with the established import of Y and Y» in the Khorsabad inscrip-
tions, the first of these signs being used as a determinative before names of
men, and the second as an ideograph for " son of" ? See what is said below,
on the forma of symbols of the male and female principles on No. 2.

193

The applicability of this explanation to the illustration of the very
similar device so common on the sculptured slabs of Nineveh, will
be apparent to any one Avho recalls the latter to mind. One point
of difference, however, deserves special notice. On those slabs, in-
stead of the hand of the priest directing the effluence from the sun
upon the tree, we have a basket held in his hand, which, as Layard
says, appeare to be of metal in the earlier sculptures, and may be so
in all.* This basket must be intended to denote the conveyance of
the sun's influence, represented by the lighted cone, to the tree. A
reason for the difference here pointed out is discoverable in the cir-
cumstance that on the slabs the sun's disk is not introduced ; so that
the union of the two principles could not be expressed without some
such expedient. For the same reason, this union is indicated on the
slabs, not by the action of lighting the cone, but by the action of
bringing it, after being lighted, into contact with the tree.

No. 2. is closely analogous to No. 1., but exhibits the same idea in
a form more fully siderian and probably more ancient. In this, the
centre of the principal scene is a fire-altar, with flames darting up-
wards from it ; above which appear seven disks, representing the
seven stellar orbs : the sun, moon and Mercury, Jupiter and Venus,
Saturn and Mars. On one side of the altar, and a little above it, is
seen a crescent moon. That the sacred fire and the moon, together,
here symbolize the male and female principles, is partly indicated by
the symbol beneath the moon, while the shape of the altar itself com-
pletes the expression of the idea. Of the human figures facing the
altar, one standing and the other seated, the one on the right hand
seems to be performing both actions, with reference to the sacred fire,
that the person on the corresponding side of No. 1. performs with
reference to the sun. Here the radiation of the sacred fire is plainly
directed upon the symbol beneath the moon. The action of the
figure on the left also includes the lighting of a cone by the fire on
the altar, but in its left hand seems to be held a basket. This accords
with the reason just proposed for the presence of the basket on the
slabs of Nineveh, for on the left of the fire-altar no representation of
the female principle is present. The actions of these two figures
exhibit, in forms not quite identical with each other, the same idea
which is conveyed by the two-fold action of the figures on No. 1.

Between the backs of these two figures the two principles are
again represented by symbols which may easily be recognized ; and
over which hovers the winged sun's disk, darting its rays upon them.
Between the sun's disk and the symbols of the two principles, and on
either side of one of the latter, appear five disks, signifying, proba-
bly, the five stellar orbs exclusive of the sun and moon. These

* Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 305.
VOL. v. 25

194

symbols are themselves, too, each marked with a disk, connecting
their cosmological import with the sun and moon as rulers of the
heavens.

The symbolic forms of the two principles beneath the sun's disk
on No. 2. strike the eye, at once, as identical with the so-called arrow-
head and wedge of which the various characters of the cuneiform
inscriptions, in all their varieties, are made up. It seems evident
that the application of these forms to the expression of thought in
historical and other monuments had a sacred origin.

It would be rash to hazard any conjecture as to the absolute age
of these cylinders. But, while the design No. 2. is evidently more
primitive than No. 1., the presence of the sun's disk upon the latter,
•whereby it differs, as is believed, from all the discovered slabs of
Nineveh, on which the other parts of the same scene are repre-
sented, would seem to show that both cylinders express the idea
intended to be conveyed by such representations, in an earlier form
than the slabs.

E. E. S.

IV. VESTIGES OF BUDDHISM IN MICRONESIA.

IN Horatio Hale's Ethnography and Philology, Philad. 1846, p.
78, is the following notice concerning Tobi, or Lord North's Island,
which forms the southwestern extremity of the Micronesian range.

"According to the native traditions, a personage, by name Pita-
kat (or Peeter Kart), of copper colour like themselves, came many
years ago from the island of Ternate (one of the Moluccas), and gave
them their religion, and such simple arts as they possessed. It is
probably to him that we are to attribute some peculiarities in their
mode of worship, such as their temple with rude images to represent
the divinity. In the centre, suspended from the roof, is a sort of
altar, into which they suppose their deity comes to hold converse
with the priest. The temple is called vere yam, or spirit-house."

There is evidently in this statement an allusion to Buddhism, al-
though the author seems not to have been aware of it, and although
the facts themselves are greatly corrupted.

Pita-kat, instead of being the name of a missionary, is the name
of the sacred books of the Buddhists, which are called Tri-pittaka
or Bedagat. The vere yaris are the vih&ras, or cloisters, of the
Buddhist monks. Both of these terms occur abundantly in the Me-
moir on the History of Buddhism in the first volume of this Journal.

This vestige of Buddhism in Micronesia is the more important, as
this portion of the Pacific Ocean is now visited by missionaries and

intelligent navigators.

j. w. a.

195

V. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

1. Bopp's Comparative Accentuation of the Greek and Sanskrit
Languages.

(Read before the Society May 23, 1855.)

Vergleichendes Accentuationssystem, nebst einer gedrdngten Darstel-
lung der grammatischen Uebereinstimmungen, des Sanskrit und
Griechischen, von Franz Bopp. Berlin: Dummler, 1854. 8vo,
pp. viii. 304.

THE work of which the title is here given has been recently issued
from the press, in fulfilment of a promise already some time since
made by its learned and venerable author. It may be regarded as
in a certain sense a supplement to his great work, the Comparative
Grammar of the Indo-European Languages. Neither external cir-
cumstances, nor the nature of the case itself, permitted him to include
the department of accentuation along with those of phonology and
inflection, in the plan of the Grammar. When the publication of
the latter was commenced (in 1833), both the rules and the illustra-
tions of Sanskrit accent were still buried in the manuscripts, and it
was not until ten years later that Bohtlingk's most timely and wel-
come First Attempt respecting the Accent in Sanskrit, introduced
the subject to the attention of scholars, and initiated the investiga-
tions which soon placed it in great measure within their knowledge.
And even then there was no good reason for taking note of it in a
general comparative grammar. The ground of comparison was too
limited : the various sub-families, and even closely kindred dialects
had deviated too widely from their original and from one another
in respect to accent, to furnish matter for extended discussion and
statement. In the case of almost every one of them, some general
accentual law had spread its influence through the whole mass of
words and forms, modifying original variety into regulated similarity.
The phenomena which the different languages thus came to exhibit
are highly curious and interesting : they are in part stated by our
author in his Preface. Of the nearly related Latin and Greek, the
former had (not without retaining plain indications of an earlier dif-
ferent state of things ; see Dietrich in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. i.) con-
fined its accent to two syllables, the penult and antepenult, and made
its choice between the two on strictly quantitative grounds : the
Greek allowed it upon one of three, the three last, and was but par-
tially limited by quantity in its selection among them. The Teutonic
languages have established in the main, and with but unimportant
variations among the single dialects, what is called the logical prin-
ciple, accenting the radical, or most significant syllable. Of the

19C

Slavic dialects, some, prominent among which is the Eussian, have
maintained down to the present time an entire freedom of place for
the accent : but the Polish accents invariably the penult, and the
Bohemian as invariably the initial syllable. The Lettish follows
likewise the latter method, of initial accent, while its nearest relation,
the Lithuanian, is unfettered, like the Russian. The Celtic dialects
skew an equal diversity when compared with one another, the Welsh
laying the stress of voice upon its penult, like the Polish, the Irish
upon its first syllable, like the Bohemian and Lettish. The Sanskrit
itself was found to allow its accent to rest upon any syllable of a
word, whatever might be the quantity of the former or the length of
the latter.

Not to inquire at present which of all these methods of accentua-
tion is most ancient, or whether it is possible to claim the honor of
primitiveness for any one of them, it is plain that any particular
comparative treatment of Indo-European accent is not practicable.
As between the Sanskrit and the Lithuanian and Russian, indeed,
ground for comparison might be supposed likely to be found ; yet
the two latter dialects stand so far removed in point of time, place,
and degree of development, from the former, that on the whole but
few interesting resemblances are to be traced out ; such as were still
discoverable have been carefully collected by our author, and are
presented in the course of his work. With the Sanskrit and the
Greek, however, the case is widely different : the remarkable analo-
gies existing between the systems of accentuation of these two lan-
guages Avere noticed from the first with much interest, and have
more than once been made the subject of treatment, although never
with anything like the fulness and completeness which the book be-
fore us aims at and attains. The laws to which the Greek accent
has been compelled to submit, limiting the stress of voice to the last
three, or, in case of a long final voAvel, the last two syllables of the
Avord, restrict, of course, to a certain extent, the parallelism ; yet so
numerous and comprehensive are the forms and classes of words on
Avhich these laAvs have exerted no modifying influence, that the
sphere of comparison is less narroAved by them than might be antici-
pated. It is rather in the case of the longer compounded verbal
forms, denominatives, secondary derivatives, compounds, and the
like, Avhich, being of 4ater groAvth and less regular formation, Avould
not at any rate be expected to exhibit so close resemblances, that the
probability of the latter is in advance greatly diminished by the re-
strictions imposed upon the freedom of the Greek accent.

The Avork before us then exhibits, Avith the clearness and distinct-
ness Avhich is Avont to characterize the productions of its author, the
phenomena of the agreement and disagreement of the Greek and
Sanskrit accentuation, throughout the departments of declension,

197

conjugation, and word-formation. And as the forms could not be
placed side by side for the purpose of a comparison of their accent,
without showing at the same time their other resemblances, the same
work serves also as an almost complete comparative grammar of the
two languages. Its interest and value are so evident, that we surely
do not need to spend time in recommending it to the attention of all
who give themselves to higher philological studies. We will there-
fore rather occupy ourselves here with the consideration of a few
points of which our author's treatment appears not to be entirely sat-
isfactory and successful. The chief strength of the work, it may be
remarked, lies in its industrious compilation and lucid presentation
of the external phenomena themselves which in the two languages
under discussion admit of comparison ; and, considering especially
how imperfectly those of the Sanskrit had as yet been examined and
systematized, and how much accordingly of that preliminary labor
which should fall rather to the share of one specially versed in a
language, and which a general philologist like our author may ex-
pect to find already performed for him, remained for himself to
accomplish, the success of his collection is worthy of all praise and
acknowledgment. His general views and explanatory theories, on
the other hand, are less happy, and seem to betray sometimes a lack
of the clearest insight into the character of the facts with which he
deals.

This is notably the case with his explanation of the Sanskrit ac-
cents (pp. 11-16). He fails to make a distinct exhibition of his
subject, and misses the opportunity of pointing out a striking corres-
pondence between the two languages which he wishes to compare.
It can hardly be said, indeed, that we receive any proper account of
the nature of the Sanskrit accents. We are simply informed that
they are two, called the udatta and the svarita, the former corres-
ponding to the Greek acute, while the latter is found much more
rarely, and only on syllables of a certain character ; what is the
physical relation of the two, and why the one is so limited in its
range, we do not learn ; the whole manner in which our author
speaks of the svarita, indeed, shows that it was to him a mysterious
something, of which he did not comprehend the properties. So he
says, for instance (p. 13), that " from the circumstance that in all cases
the svarita extends itself over two vowels at once, we must necessarily
conclude that it is a weaker accent than the udatta or acute, which
falls with its whole Aveight upon a single point, while the force of
the svarita is broken by its being drawn out over two vowels," etc. ;
surely a very unsatisfactory determination of the relations subsisting
between the two, particularly as it seems quite as natural to regard
that accent which brings two vowels under its sway as more power-
ful than that of which the authority is confined to a single vowel.

193

Let us inquire a little into what constitutes in general the accent
of a word. The answer is readily given, that it is a stress of voice
laid upon one of the syllables composing the word. But in what
consists the expression of this stress of voice ? is it simply a more
forcible utterance of the accented syllable, in the same musical tone
in which the others are uttered, or is it accompanied by a change of
pitch, an elevation of the voice ? The latter, certainly, as is allowed
by all who have treated of the accent, and as any one may readily
convince himself by experiment. It is indeed practicable to com-
municate the stress without at the same time raising the tone, but
one must watch himself narrowly, and exercise some constraint upon
the organs, in order to accomplish it. It is so easy and natural a
process : the vocal cords being stretched to a certain degree of ten-
sion, the special effort, which expels through them a fuller and more
rapid current of air, at once sets them vibrating on a higher key.
And this elevation of pitch is even the more prominent element of
the effect produced : especially may we suppose this to have been
the case in those ancient languages whose absolute accent, or tension
of voice, was so weak as to allow the quantity of syllables to remain
the guiding and controlling motive in the construction of verse :
there, at any rate, the accent will have consisted mainly in the alter-
ation of the tone. This is entirely in harmony with the descriptions
given us by the ancient grammarians ; so the usual Sanskrit accent
is called udatta " raised, elevated," and Panini and his predecessors
agree in defining it as the utterance of a syllable uccais " in a high
tone," in distinction from other syllables, which are spoken nicais
" in a low tone," and are called anudatta " not elevated :" the Greek
acute is similarly described ; and as we can find no ground, either in
theory or in the facts, for questioning the accuracy of these definitions,
we may unhesitatingly admit them as accurate, and regard the
equality of the principal and most frequent accent in the two lan-
guages as established beyond question.

How is it then farther as regards the circumflex and the svarita ?
And how are we, in the first place, to explain at all the existence of
another and different accent by the side of the one already treated
of? It is to be noted that the elevation of the voice, or its depres-
sion again to the ordinary level, may be not so instantaneously
effected as not to be perceptible in the process, and may take place
within the limits of the accented syllable, instead of between it and
its predecessor or successor. That is to say, the accented syllable
may be commenced upon the general pitch, and made to rise, so
that (to avail ourselves of the Indian terminology) its beginning is
anudatta, and its end udatta, or the process may be reversed, and
its commencement may be elevated, its final mora reverting to the
undistinguished level. Neither would be likely to be the case ex-

199

cepting in a syllable containing a long vowel or a diphthong, and
thus affording space and leisure tor making audible such a process ;
and this would be especially favored, it should seem, by an improper
diphthong, so called, of which the two component vowels retain still
so much unblended individuality that they are hardly less capable
of exhibiting a difference of accentuation, as regards one another,
than would be two distinct syllables. Now, for whatever reason, it
is found that in the actual usage of language only the latter of the
two cases, that in which the syllable commences upon the higher
key and is brought back to the lower, has been recognized as calling
for especial notice in designating the accentuation. Of such charac-
ter, namely, the Greek circumflex plainly appears to be ; a combina-
tion of acute and grave, uddtta and anudatta, within the limits of a
single syllable. It is not necessary to review here the evidence upon
which this account of its nature is founded : the writers on the theory
of the Greek accent, ancient and modern, so explain it, and without
doubt correctly : we pass to the Sanskrit svarita.

The svarita is said by Panini (i. 2. 31), to be a "conjunction" of
the other two (udatta and anudatta), and its commencing half-mora
is said to be udatta. Precisely the same description, in effect, is
given of it in the Pratic,akhyas (so that to the Atharva-Veda, i. 17,
says " half a mora at the beginning of a svarita is udatta"). Nothing
could be plainer or more intelligible than this definition, and we
shall not be justified in rejecting it unless the evidence afforded by
the phenomena of the language should be clearly and decisively
against it. That, however, is not the case ; they rather speak con-
clusively in its favor, as we shall perceive upon taking note of some
of the main circumstances connected with the occurrence of the
accent. The Sanskrit svarita is, upon the whole, not very frequently
met with : in the actual accented language laid before us in the texts
of the Vedas, it is in the majority of instances the product of the
euphonic rules, and we will accordingly first consider it as so origin-
ated. When a final i or u (short or long), comes to stand in the
sentence before a dissimilar initial vowel, the two syllables are com-
bined into one, the former vowel being converted into its correspond-
ing semivowel, y or v : if, now, the final vowel has been udatta
and the initial anudatta, the resulting syllable has the svarita : so
vi and agat, on being written together, form vyagat (to indicate, as
our author does, the svarita by the grave accent). Here there is, in
fact, no real change of accent : each constituent of the new syllable
retains its old tone : the vowel is anudatta as before ; the semivowel
still retains enough of the vowel quality in its pronunciation to be
capable of an elevated utterance, as udatta ; and the result is pre-
cisely the svarita which the grammarians describe. Or one may
prefer to say that the semivowel partially assimilates the vowel, and

200

that half a mora of the a itself is uttered in the higher key : the
effect is the same ; the combined syllable retains and represents the
accents of both its constituents. In the much more numerous cases
\vhere an accented final vowel coalesces with an unaccented initial
into a long vowel or diphthong, the same result, as regards the
accent, might be looked for : yet the general tendency of the lan-
guage is too strongly against the breaking down of the accent within
the limits of the accented syllable to allow of this : grammatical
theory does indeed permit the exhibition of the svarita in every such
instance, and in a single text, the Qatapatha Brahmana, that is made
the invariable rule ; but in ordinary Vedic usage, the accented por-
tion of the compound elevates the unaccented to its own level, and
the whole is udatta. A single exception is made : if a short accented
i coalesces with a short or long unaccented i, the long i which they
together form still retains the accentuation of both its elements, and
is svarita : the Atharva Pratigakhya expressly exempts from the
influence of the rule the case of a long accented «' uniting with the
unaccented vowel : the first element is there strong enough to assim-
ilate the other, and the result is an udatta. It is not easy to see
why a like coalescence of two w's should not be subject to the same
laws : perhaps the case is not provided for only because it so very
rarely, if ever, occurs : it never, at any rate, presents itself in the
Atharva, nor have we remarked it in such parts of the other Vedas
as have come under our examination. There is one more method in
which a svarita is originated : when a final 6 or e causes the elision
of a following initial a (unaccented), the former has its udatta con-
verted into svarita; so indro agat becomes indrb ''gat. The whole
phenomenon of this elision is not easily to be explained phonetically ;
it seems clear, however, that the vowel is regarded as in some man-
ner absorbed into the preceding diphthong and made a part of it,
and its accentuation is represented in the compound by the reduc-
tion of the voice to the general level before the close of the syllable.
Thus far we have had only cases of the production of the svarita by
the action of the rules of Sandhi : there are others, however, of not
frequent occurrence, in which a word, as written in the present state
of the language, has the svarita instead of the udatta resting upon
its accented syllable. All such cases belong 10 the class of those
first mentioned above, the syllable containing before its vowel a y or
v ; and this y or v is, no less than the other, a product of euphonic
rules from an original i or u : the accent points us back (as remarked
by Bohtlingk; Erster Versuch, etc. §4.) to a time when the syllable
was pronounced as two, of which the first was accented : it is well
known that in the Vedic language these syllables are often, even
generally, to be so divided in reading, in order to fill out the meas-
ure : so svar, kva are to be read su-ar, ku-a, to which the other

201

forms are equivalent (when Mr. Bopp, p. 13, says the contrary, he is
simply in error) ; in like manner acarya equals, and is to be pro-
nounced, dcdri-a, virya viri-a : had the accent been originally sv-dr,
ku-d, dcdri-d, viri-d, the syllables would, when combined into one,
have preserved the ud&tta belonging to the vowel which still re-
mained the vowel of the syllable. But besides these words, of which
the themes themselves have the svarita, there is a class which come
to exhibit the same accent upon some of their cases in the course of
declension. Mr. Bopp takes notice of the phenomenon (p. 14), but,
not comprehending the nature and value of the svarita, is able to
present but a lame and unsatisfactory explanation of it. It is, briefly
stated, this : nominal themes, ending in an accented i or u, long or
short (there are exceptions to the rule), which letters before a caae-
ending beginning with a vowel are converted into y or v, receive
upon the ending, in the so-called strong cases (Nona. Ace. Voc.)
svarita, in the weak udatta. So from nodi', vadhu', are formed in
the nom. dual and plural nady^du, vadhvds, in the dat. and gen. sin-
gular nadyd'i, vadhvd's. This, Mr. Bopp says, can. only be because
the strong cases have a right to a greater fullness of form than the
weak, and retain accordingly for the final vowel in such cases a more
properly vowel pronunciation : that is to say, that nadydu is really
rather nadi-du, while nadyai is and remains nadydi. But, in the first
place, there is an absence of all evidence that the semivowels were
really pronounced less like vowels in the weak than in the strong
cases ; the Vedas show them to be quite as frequently resolvable into
the vowels in the former as in the latter : and farther, it can in no
way be made to appear that a vowel is rendered less capable of bear-
ing the acute if preceded by another vowel ; that, for instance, sup-
posing the case-ending of nadydu to be entitled to the udatta, the
re-conversion of the y into i would have any tendency to take that
accent from it. The true explanation of the difference of accentua-
tion, as between the two classes of cases, is to be found in the differ-
ence of the point upon which the stress of voice really falls ; being
in the strong cases the final vowel of the theme, in the weak the
vowel of the ending. This change of accent from the theme to the
ending has extensive analogies in the language : so especially in the
classes of monosyllabic and participial themes. Let us compare, for
instance, the declension of nd'u and mahdnt : they form, in the cases
instanced above, nd'vdu, mahd'ntas, like nadi'-du (equivalent to
nady^au) vadhu'-as (to vadhvas) ; and on the other hand nave,
mahatds, like nadi-a'i (or nadyd i), vadhu-d's (vadhva's).

From this general statement of the circumstances attending the
occurrence of the svarita in Sanskrit, it can hardly fail to be clearly
apparent that that accent has been correctly described by the Indian
grammarians, that it is a compound of udatta and anudatta, exhib-

VOL. v. 26

202

iting both the elevated and the general tone of voice within the
compass of the same syllable. It is, then, identical in physical char-
acter Avith the Greek circumflex, and we have found a new parallel-
ism, unremarked by our author, between the systems of accentuation
of the two languages. There is, indeed, a grand difference between
them in regard to the use they make of this accent : the one show-
ing such an inclination for it as to make it the general rule for a
vowel or diphthong resulting from contraction, or for a penult of
long vowel quantity when not followed by a long final syllable ; the
other admitting it, with very rare exceptions, only upon syllables
properly disyllabic, and composed of two uncombinable vowel sounds.
But as the Greek circumflex is so named from its nature, and not
from its value or frequency as a phenomenon of the language, there
exists no reason whatever why, in a general treatise at least, we
should not transfer the names acute and circumflex to the Sanskrit
also, and avoid encumbering our terminology with new titles not
universally intelligible.

This comparison of the circumflex and the svarita has already
oftener than once been made with more or less fullness, and it is a
matter of surprise that Mr. Bopp should have so entirely overlooked
it Perhaps it is owing to the method in which the latest Sanskrit
grammarians (Boiler and Benfey) have treated the general subject
of the svarita. Neither of them has followed the guidance of his
Indian predecessors in explaining the physical character of the
accent : Boiler calls it simply a "clear-sound" (Hell-lauf), adopting
a title first proposed by Ewald (Zeitsch. f. d. K. d. Morgenlandes, v.
438 ff.), and founded upon an etymology of the Indian name which
is now acknowledged to be a mistaken one : Benfey describes it as a
tone midway between udatta and anudatta, instead of a combination
of the two ; both theories necessarily exclude any comparison with
the Greek circumflex. But while in this particular deserting the
native authority, and in some measure because they have done so,
they have, in our opinion, suffered it to mislead them in other re-
spects into giving an account of the phenomena of the svarita which
is insufficient and unphilosophical. In endeavoring to make this
apparent, we must first call attention to the complete later Indian
theory respecting the accent. It is held, namely, that the sphere of
influence of the accent is not limited to the syllable upon which the
stress of voice properly falls, but that it produces also a certain effect
upon the preceding and following syllables ; upon the former the
voice is said to fall a degree lower than the general level of pitch, in
preparation for its exaltation to the height of the udatta; while the
other, instead of being pronounced in its entirety upon the anudatta
pitch, retains at its commencement a remnant of the udatta tone, so
that the fall of the voice takes place in, and not before, it. Thus, in

203

the word sumanasydm&nas, only the first two and the last syllables
are allowed to be pronounced in the general tone, the na falling be-
low it, and the md being retained during its first half-mora at the
same pitch as the syd : it might be expressed to the eye in the fol-

sya §

lowing manner : su ma & nas. Of these two subsidiary ac-

cents, the first, or proclitic, is generally styled the anuddttatara ; the
other, or enclitic, is known as the svarita. Now we certainly ought
to allow ourselves to be instructed by the native authorities on mat-
ters of such nicety as this connected with pronunciation : at the same
time, we know very well the tendency of the Indian grammarians to
over-refinement of analysis, and to pretty arbitrary theorization where
there is any occasion or excuse for it, and are justified in examining
with some jealousy their teachings even upon points like these.
And it appears that the proclitic accent, at any rate, is a compara-
tively late afterthought. So much is indicated even by the name
itself, which is a comparative of anuddtta, and is, strictly taken, an
absurdity, anuddtta being treated as if it had a positive meaning,
" depressed," instead of the merely negative one " unelevated :" such
a derivative could not have been formed from it until its own mean-
ing had become conventionally fixed by long usage. The Pratiga-
khyas, so far as known to us (we have not access to them all), neither
contain the name of this accent, nor any indication that its existence
had been recognized. With the enclitic svarita the case appears to
be different : neither the early grammarians (of the Pratigakhyas),
nor the later, regard it as in any manner distinct from the proper or
independent circumflex which we have spoken of above ; the two are
confounded together as quite identical, and have in common exer-
cised the ingenuity of the native theorists, which has amused itself
with dividing them into numerous sub-forms, having each its pecu-
liar designation. Their example is followed by the two German
grammarians, who describe the enclitic svarita as the main fact,
make it their starting point, and proceed to explain the other from it.
In the union, say they, of an udatta with its following syllable, the
latter having already through the influence of the former an enclitic
svarita, the first accent is entirely lost, and the other takes its place,
so that the result is a svarita syllable. But we must confess that
this loss of a principal in a subsidiary accent, this sacrificing of the
acute to its own shadow, this elevation to entire independence of a
tone possessed of so little inherent force that, if a second acute fol-
lows it, it disappears altogether, and is replaced by the anuddtta (as
is the case), does not strike us as very plausible. Are we to believe
that, when a fully accented e or 6 absorbs or elides a short a, the
tone of the former is utterly destroyed, and only that weak echo of
itself which it would have lent to the other vowel is left ? that, while

204

a long i' assimilates a short i, rendering the whole result acute, a
short i is allowed no representation at all in the accent of the com-
pound of which it forms a part ? that, where the method of the Qata-
patha Brahmana is followed, and an &', for instance, is combined
with an i, the tone of the stronger element is given up in favor of
that of the weaker ? In the more frequent case of the conversion of
the accented vowel into a semivowel, we might indeed sooner grant,
that if the semivowel itself be left out of account, and not allowed
any such vowel pronunciation as should qualify it to take part in
bearing the tone which originally belonged to it, the independent
and enclitic svarita Avould fall together, and have the same value :
that in the word s&ar, for instance, if the u were absolutely conso-
nantized, only that kind of tone would remain to the a, which the a
also of vl'ra, borrowing for itself a slight share in the higher tone of
the preceding syllable, might exhibit. The Indian theory would
then be consistent with itself, and would sacrifice together the vowel
quality and the accent of the converted vowel. Yet we, on the con-
trary, should be fully justified in maintaining, from the evidence fur-
nished by the Vedas, that it still retained a share in both ; that the
two vowels were pronounced together as an improper diphthong, and
that each contributed its part to the accentuation of the syllable.
It would evidently have a direct and important bearing upon the
question before us, if we could find any evidence that the independ-
ent circumflex had been first noted and named, and its designation
afterward transferred to the enclitic which a later theory had set up,
or a more acute analysis discovered. Nor do we despair of the pos-
sibility of doing so. The etymology of the word svarita does not
seem to be as yet fully ascertained. It is now generally derived from
svara " accent," and explained to mean " accented, having the stress of
voice." To this there are two weighty objections : first, that no reason
can be given why this accent should be chosen out to receive such a
name, as if it were the sole, the most frequent, the principal accent,
which it is far enough from being : second, that in the earliest gram-
matical language the word svara means very much more frequently
" vowel " than " accent," and it seems that the former must be the
original signification, from which the other is in some way derived.
We might then conjecture that svarita came from svara in this sense
of "vowel," and meant "vocalized, exhibiting the conversion into a
vowel," as applied to the syllables in which the re-vocalization of the
semivowel was necessary, in order to give its full enunciation to the
accent ; such syllables constituting probably nineteen-twentieths of
those which do receive the independent circumflex. We would not
put forward this etymology with too much confidence, but rather
reserve the point for farther examination and decision, when the
early grammatical phraseology shall be more fully and completely

205

understood. However the Indian grammarians may in their theories
assume the complete identity of the two kinds of svarita, there are
cases where they are compelled practically to acknowledge their
fundamentally different character. To illustrate this : if an acute is
followed by a circumflex, no difference, as regards the notation of the
accents, is made iii the texts, whether the latter be the independent
or the enclitic : the two phrases deva'c ca (ca being of itself destitute
of accent, but receiving in such a position the enclitic svarita), and
deva'h svar, are marked with precisely the same accent signs : but
let another accented word be appended, and the difference immedi-
ately appears; while the ca loses its circumflex and becomes anu-
ddtta (or anudattatara), as in deva'c ca te, the svar still maintains
its proper accent, and we read, for example, deva'h svar d'bharan
(Ath.V. iv. 23, 6).

We must regard ourselves, therefore, as authorized still to believe,
that the proper Sanskrit circumflex is a phenomenon of independent
origin, resulting from the coalescence of an accented with an unac-
cented syllable, and that it should, in a philosophical treatment of
the general subject, be held distinctly apart from those subordinate
and comparatively insignificant modifications of tone, which are
claimed to be the involuntary accompaniments of the accented
syllable.

Mr. Bopp claims that he has discovered the general law or princi-
ple which governs the accentuation of both Sanskrit and Greek,
although prevented from exhibiting itself so distinctly in the latter
language as in the former by the contrary influence of the phonetic
laws. It is this : " the farthest retraction of the accent (toward the
beginning of the word) is regarded as the accentuation of greatest
dignity and force :" that is to say, the Sanskrit and Greek accent is
a method of indicating the comparative rank of different words or
classes of words, and its place is determined by reference hereto ; the
stress of voice being laid in those words which are deemed of most
importance and dignity upon the first syllable, or one of the first.
Our author lays down this law, preparatory to making it the basis
of his comparative investigations, at the outset of his work (p. 16),
and proceeds at some length to establish and illustrate it from the
actual phenomena of the two languages in question.

It is in truth a matter of so much consequence to determine,
especially as regards the Sanskrit, whether any such general law has
exercised a modifying and altering influence upon an earlier accentu-
ation, that we shall be justified in inquiring somewhat particularly
whether the alleged principle is to be accepted as satisfactorily estab-
lished. The importance of the question grows directly out of the
part which the Sanskrit has played, and which we expect it still

206

farther to play, in illustrating the most ancient history of our family
of languages. It has aided so remarkably in accomplishing this,
chiefly in virtue of the freedom which it has always maintained from
general modifying influences of a later and secondary origin, of the
purity in which it has preserved its forms as originally constructed,
allowing us to look directly through them upon the formative pro-
cesses. Now we might hope to receive no insignificant aid in our
last analyses of forms from the accentuation, if that too had been
transmitted to us in unimpaired purity. What we may hold to have
been the character of the primitive accentuation of a language will
depend, of course, upon what is our theory as to the earliest growth
of the latter. If we belong to the school of philology of which Mr.
Bopp himself is to be regarded as the founder and head, we believe
that there was a time in the history of language when it consisted
only of roots, all independently significant, and that polysyllabic
words and forms first grew up by the subordination of some of these
significant syllables to others, their concretion, as it were, about a
nucleus : that the whole apparatus of suffixes and prefixes, which are
attached to a root, and express merely modifications of the central
idea conveyed by .that root, or its relations to others, had once a
separate existence and value of their own, and that the method in
which the combination into a new compound individuality was
effected, was in great part the yielding up of their own independent
accent on the part of some of these syllables : there was first a re-
duction of accented words to proclitics or enclitics, and then a closer
fusion of the aggregation into a unit. Of course, in the growing
together of such a compound unit, that syllable would retain its
accent, and become the nucleus of the new formation, which Avas
felt to be most prominent among them : the less significant atoms
would subordinate themselves to the more important. General laws
and tendencies, whether of a phonetic character, or such as Mr. Bopp
thinks he has found in the Sanskrit, could not arise and exercise
their influence until later, when the language consisted of words
already formed and developed. If, then, we are able to separate a
word into its root and the accretions thereto, and can be assured that
its accent has not been altered since it first grew into a word, we
have no unimportant hint given us respecting the nature and com-
parative value of its elements, as estimated at the moment of its
origination : a hint that may yet be of the utmost value to us in
accomplishing the very difficult task of thoroughly comprehending
and explaining the reduction to their present form and meaning of
the various formative syllables. It would doubtless be going alto-
gether too far to claim that the Sanskrit does actually offer to us the
original accentuation in primitive purity, yet the analogy of its other
qualities, and the general appearance of its phenomena, warrant us

207

at least in believing that it may have preserved more of that accentu-
ation than any other language of the family lias done. Perhaps
the time has not yet come when its system can be so thoroughly
examined as to settle the question in all points satisfactorily, but it
is clear that the subject is deserving of the most minute and search-
ing investigation, and that in the meantime we have to look with
distrust at alleged general laws, and see whether they are not put
forth on insufficient grounds.

Mr. Benfey, in his Sanskrit Grammar (§ 4), makes the character-
istically bold and sweeping assertion, that the principle of the Sans-
krit system of accentuation is to lay the stress of voice upon the
modifying syllable, whether prefix or suffix, to the exclusion of the
root or theme itself. He adds, however, that this original principle
has been, in the progress of the development of language, supplanted
in some instances by other word-shaping influences. To this Mr.
Bopp remarks (note 35, p. 238) that he would have been nearer the
truth had he said " in most instances," inasmuch as in the great
majority of the phenomena as they lie before us the principle is vio-
lated. Mr. Benfey has not deigned, or has not ventured, to defend
and establish his theory, but is content barely to state it, with an
illustration or two, leaving it to the good pleasure of his readers to
accept or reject it : probably most of them will agree with Mr. Bopp
in disposing of it in the latter way, since it seems to find support
neither in the facts, as a general law of secondary origin, nor in
sound theory, as a primitive and original principle. For in the very
earliest concretion of syllables into words, the accentuation could
hardly be otherwise than a logical one, distinguishing the " radical "
syllable ; it would only be after a certain stock of words was already
constructed, that the comparison with them, or the conscious and
intentional farther modification of them, would lead to a laying of
the stress of voice upon the naturally less important formative sylla-
ble, and thus introduce the other principle ; after which the two
would subsist together, and the application of the one or the other
be made to depend upon the nature or degree of the modifying in-
fluence of the affix.

We have now, then, to examine Mr. Bopp's general law of Sans-
krit accentuation, and see whether it is entitled, in view of its own
intrinsic character, and of the evidence which he is able to adduce
in its support, to be accepted by us as satisfactorily established.
And it is not too much to say, in the first place, that the former, its
character, furnishes no presumption in its favor, but rather the con-
trary. Nothing analogous to it has been noted elsewhere : other
languages are found which have remodelled their accentuation upon
phonetic grounds, or which have singled out the most significant
syllable of each word to receive the distinguishing stress of voice,

208

but not one has been pointed out as attempting to mark the absolute
dignity and force of a word, as compared with other words, by dis-
tinguishing any one of its syllables above its fellows. Nor is there
anything plausible in the idea of attaining such an end by such
means : it seems next to impossible to understand, to make the mind
appreciate, how the drawing back of an accent toward the begin-
ning of a word should be able to give that word an added impor-
tance in the general sum of discourse. It might, for one reason, be
even easier to believe this of a throwing forward of the accent : it is
a familiar observation, namely, of which those especially who speak
the English language will not fail to appreciate the justice, that in a
polysyllabic word the syllables which precede the accent are uttered
with more force and distinctness than those which follow it : a full
and sonorous pronunciation, then, at any rate, would be assured to a
word rather by accenting its final than its initial syllable. Consider-
ing this absence of analogies or antecedent probabilities in its favor,
we have a right surely to demand that our author's law be supported
by evidence both full and unequivocal derived from the facts of the
language. Let us examine somewhat in detail that which he ad-
duces, and see whether it bears this character.

In the first place, he claims that a very striking proof of the dig-
nity and efficiency belonging to the accentuation of an initial sylla-
ble is furnished by the fact that monosyllabic nouns, in both Sanskrit
and Greek, lay the stress of voice in the nominative and accusative
of all numbers upon the theme, while in the other cases it rests upon
the ending : the former cases are thus, he says, indicated as the
most exalted and distinguished of the series. This seems to us to
mean just nothing at all. What is there in the nominative and ac-
cusative that entitles them to claim a superiority in rank over the
other cases, what appreciable tangible quality, which could furnish
ground for a distinction such as is here claimed to be made ? More
frequent of occurrence they are, indeed ; and they express simpler
and more direct relations of the theme to other words ; but herein,
surely, lies a reason much more plausible for the difference of accent,
that the endings which express the more complicated relations have
a greater significance, and relative importance to the theme, than the
others, and therefore receive the stress of voice. When the theory
of the nature of the case-endings, and of the manner in which they
became attached to the theme, is more thoroughly understood, we
may expect to comprehend better the cause also of the varying
accentuation ; but we are not called upon to accept in the meantime
any such explanation of it as Mr. Bopp gives.

The next argument offered is that verbs active and medial do in
general accent their first syllable, and that thus the energy of the
action residing in the word is emblematized by its energetic accentu-

209 l

ation. But so far is the Sanskrit from tending to lay any particu-
larly energetic stress of voice upon its verbs, that in most instances,
and unless some special circumstances interfere to prevent, it de-
prives them of all accent whatever. It would be strange if a class
of words should be left ordinarily unaccented, which had been chosen
out to bear an especially energetic accentuation. But the strength
of the argument was perhaps intended to lie rather in the compari-
son made between the active and middle verbs on the one hand, and
the passives on the other, which latter lay the stress of voice upon
their characteristic syllable ya, immediately following the root;
" because," says our author, " they lack the energy of self-action."
In reply to this it may be remarked, in the first place, that we seem
to have here only another instance of a classification made on insuf-
ficient grounds : that it is not easy to perceive a notable distinction
in respect to the quality of the action, as such, between the two
classes set up ; their differences residing rather in the different rela-
tions of the subject and the object to the action ; that it would be
quite as plausible to make other of these relations than the one
which has been chosen for the purpose, the ground of the division :
to draw the line, for instance, between the active verbs on the one
side, and the middles and passives on the other (particularly as the
whole history of language illustrates the near kindred of these two
forms of the verb), or between the transitives and intransitives. But
farther, if the verbal accent is intended to indicate the dignity and
efficiency of the verbal forms, how does it happen that so many
verbs active and middle, and those just the oldest and most original
which the language possesses, do still accent, in the majority of their
forms, the ending ? why, while the imperfect lays the stress of voice
upon its first syllable, does the perfect lay it upon its last, or its
penult ? why, if the passive accents its formative syllable from weak-
ness, does the causal, certainly the most energetic of the forms of the
verb, do the same? Evidently, a rule which is founded upon a
doubtful classification, applies to only a portion of the phenomena
which come within its sphere, and has the directest analogies against
it, is to be rejected without long hesitation : the real principle or
principles lying at the base of the varied system of verbal accentua-
tion have not been reached.

The accent of the vocative is another point adduced by our author
in support of his law. This case in Sanskrit has the stress of voice,
when it has it at all, upon its first syllable ; " plainly," we are told,
" in order to distinguish in a very impressive manner the name of
the person called upon." To this it is a sufficient answer to say,
that, excepting in certain exceptional situations, the Sanskrit vocative
receives no accent at all, and that it would be a remarkable incon-
sistency on the part of the language to deprive a class of words of

VOL. v. 2t

210

their accent in the majority of instances where they are found, and
in the rest to lay upon them a stress intended to be a particularly
powerful one.

Mr. Bopp next brings forward the accentuation of the first syllable
in all comparatives and superlatives formed by the suffixes iyas and
ishtha ; " which," he says, " is not easily to be explained except upon
the supposition that the language felt with reference to these forma-
tions the necessity of representing the intensifying of the idea by the
highest intensification of the accent likewise : therefore, e. g., from
the oxytone positive svadu come the comparative and superlative
sva'diyas, svd'dishtka" etc. This argument would at least seem to
be more to the point, if it were actually the case that sva'diyas,
svd'dishtha were formed from svadu, and that they in truth exhib-
ited a change, a retraction, of accent. But this is not so. It has,
indeed, been usual, following native Indian authority, to account
these comparatives and superlatives as secondary derivatives, and to
form them from nominal themes, but it is truly remarkable that a
theory so discordant with the facts should have been permitted so
long to pass unchallenged. We are accustomed to hold that the
individuality of a nominal theme, as distinguished from its root, is
constituted by its formative suffix, taken in connection with the par-
ticular form of the root presented therewith. What shall we think,
then, when called upon to derive tcshepiyas, for example, from
kshipra ; to accomplish which we have first to strip off from the
latter the suffix ra whose addition to the root kship first constituted
it a theme, and then farther to take a different form of the root
itself ? Is that a philosophical etymological process ? This is not
an unfair example of the class ; compare farther vdriyas from uru,
rdjishtha from rju, gdmishtha from gantdr ; a host of others as
striking might be adduced : notice also the numerous cases of such
comparatives and superlatives to which even Indian theory can as-
sign no corresponding positive ; as kdniyas, kdnishtha, jya'yas,
jyeshtha : remark, finally, the permission given in the Vedic lan-
guage to form at will such derivatives from any root, whether simple
or combined with a preposition. These indications are unambigu-
ous, and point, all of them, to the same conclusion, which cannot be
avoided ; that all these formations in iyas and ishtlia are primary
derivatives from the root itself, and stand upon an equality with,
instead of being subordinate to, the themes which occasionally bear
to them the relation of positives. In. the instance cited above, then,
of sva'diyas and sva'dishtha as compared with svddu, we have by
no means a case of retraction of an already located accent, but only
an example of the usual variety of accentuation shown in the forma-
tion of derivatives, the root retaining itself the stress of voice before
certain suffixes, and yielding it up to others. Our author might,

211

indeed, be inclined to claim that the ground of his argument was
only shifted, inasmuch as there was room still to allege the existence
of a tendency toward a more energetic accentuation of the intenser
forms among the primary derivatives themselves, and to cite this
case in evidence of it. The plea when reduced to this form is hardly
of force enough to demand an answer, considering how numerous
are the cases in which the root maintains its accent before the suffix,
while yet no such reason can be assigned for it. Very plain indica-
tions are not wanting, however, that the Sanskrit did not feel the
alleged need of representing the intensifying of the idea in compar-
ative and superlative formations by a modification, or at all events
not by a retraction, of the accent. There are other, and much more
usual, suffixes employed to form adjectives of comparison, namely
tara and tama, which are actually appended to nominal themes ;
and these, as a general rule, leave the accent of the theme just
where they find it : thus we have from makdt, mahdttara, mahdt-
tama ; from punya, punyatara, punyatama ; from bhdgavat, bhaga-
vattara ; from ratnadkd', ratnadhd' tama. The exceptions to this
rule occur chiefly in formations from pronominal and prepositional
roots and themes (the suffixes appearing in part in the briefer forms
ra and ma), and the variations of accent which they exhibit are
directly opposed to those which our author's principle would require :
so from yd come yatard and yatamd; from M, fcatard and katamd;
from adhds, the comparative ddhara, and the superlative adhamd;
from ut, dpa, upa, in like manner, uttara and uttamd, dpara and
apamd, upara and upamd; and from para, paramd.

One more argument is brought forward by Mr. Bopp in support
of his theory of Sanskrit accentuation. The abstracts, he tells us,
show an inclination to accent their first syllable, and the abstract is
in so far the highest potency of a word, as it presents the radical
idea without any limitation or foreign admixture ; to it therefore
belongs of right the most impressive mode of accentuation. But is
there really any ground for establishing such a distinction in favor
of the abstract above the other derivatives from a root ? It seems,
at any rate, not entirely consistent with the superior dignity which
had already before been claimed for the forms of the finite verb ;
they, surely, do not present the radical idea without limitation or
foreign admixture ; they allow its limitation by both subject and
object, and the intrusion into it of the foreign elements of modality
and time. And can one seriously compare the nomen abstractum
with the nomen agentis, for instance, or the nomen possessivum, and
appreciate the existence of any quality in the former which should
give it a claim to be clearly designated as superior to the latter ?
Surely we have here but another instance of an arbitrary determina-
tion of rank, upon grounds purely imaginary, between classes of

212

words, which needs only to be fairly stated and calmly considered to
be rejected without a formal refutation. But the argument is hardly
better founded in facts than in theory : of the two most frequent
secondary suffixes forming abstract nouns, tva and t&, the former
receives itself the accent, the latter draws it forward to the syllable
next preceding itself: and if it is true that ti forms numerous par-
oxytone feminine abstracts, it is true also that they are quite as fre-
quently oxytone.

It can hardly remain a matter of doubt, after this examination of
the arguments by which Mr. Bopp supports his theory of the prin-
ciple of Sanskrit accentuation, that it is unhesitatingly to be rejected,
as founded only upon doubtful, or arbitrary, or mistaken interpreta-
tions of certain phenomena, which, even did they speak unequivo-
cally in its favor, would not be sufficient to give it more than a
degree of plausibility as one of the general secondary tendencies of
the language. And it is especially unfortunate that our author
should have allowed a theory so insufficiently established to govern
and direct him to such an extent as is actually the case, in his
arrangement and comparison of the facts which he has so industri-
ously collected. He holds to it with much consistency, or persist-
ency, throughout the whole course of his work ; we have not re-
marked that he allows anywhere the possible existence of a principle
of accentuation more primitive than this, or inquires whether any of
the facts inconsistent with it which he is compelled to take notice of
may not be original, and find an explanation in the history of the
earliest growth of the language. We cannot attempt here to follow
him through all the points where we conceive him to have been
misled by this means into an erroneous explanation, estimation, or
comparison, of the phenomena presented by the two languages
which he primarily treats. We shall have accomplished all that we
desired, if we have shown the untenability of the theory which would
account for the Sanskrit accentuation by a general law of secondary
origin, and have preserved to the linguistic investigator the precious
possibility that under its apparent anomalies are hidden valuable
hints as to the first growth of language. We have not been solicit-
ous, when opposing the interpretation forced by Mr. Bopp upon his
facts, to substitute for it another of our own, as recognizing the
extreme difficulty of the subject, and the necessity of tracing every
point sought to be established carefully through the whole body of
phenomena of the language ; which has hardly been practicable
hitherto. The possibility of doing so, however, is greatly facilitated
by the work before us, which, as a careful collection and presentation
of all the phenomena of accent still admitting comparison in the vari-
ous Indo-European languages, is, for completeness and convenience,
far in advance of anything which had before been produced.

213

There is one highly interesting department of the subject of Sans-
krit accentuation which our author's plan has not allowed him to
discuss directly, or in full, because its phenomena are confined to the
Indian language alone, so far as has been remarked, and find nothing
analogous in the other dialects of our family. This is the loss on
the part of certain words in the sentence of their proper accent, un-
less under the operation of especial causes, which preserve it to them.
Other languages, to be sure, as for instance the Greek, have their
classes of properly accentless words, which attach themselves more
or less closely, as proclitics or enclitics, to some other more promi-
nent word in the sentence, and others which do or do not receive an
accent, according to the degree of significance which in different
cases may belong to them : such the Sanskrit has also : but it is not
to them that reference is now made ; there are, besides these, two
important and extensive categories which the Sanskrit alone deprives
of accent. These are the vocatives, and the forms of the finite verb.
Mr. Bopp briefly considers the subject in a note (note 37, p. 240),
and disposes of it very summarily by denying the facts, and accus-
ing the Indians of having in this respect misapprehended or misrep-
resented their language. He finds it so incredible that forms of the
length and fullness of vifvdmitra and abubodhishdmahi should have
no distinguishing stress of voice, that he prefers to believe that both
vocatives and verbs did in truth always retain their own proper ac-
cent, but that in the situations where this is allowed them by the
Indian grammarians, they were so much more strongly and impres-
sively accented, that the stress ordinarily laid upon them was not
noticed or noted at all. We cannot find this counter theory satis-
factory, or even plausible. Such a denial of the actuality of a phe-
nomenon of which the explanation seems difficult, is a confession of
weakness which science should not feel willing to make until after a
much more thorough investigation than this subject has yet received,
at the hands of our author or of any other person. And the chief
or only difficulty which our author puts forward seems, after all, to
be by no means the greatest of those which are to be contended
against : who would have thought of rejecting as impossible and
false the accentuation of a dvandva like unmocanapramocane, or of
a compound verb accented upon the preposition, like prdty abubo-
dhishdmahi ? the number of successive syllables which are left un-
accented in a sentence is certainly not the main thing : if a certain
category of words is to be stripped of its accent, it is of but inferior
consequence whether the individual words which come under it are
longer or shorter in respect of form : the true point which calls for
explanation is their reduction at all to a subordinate and enclitic
condition. But so far as concerns the vocatives, this too does not
appear to be a matter of so extreme difficulty. If there is any class

214

of words of which the character and relations to the sentence are so
peculiar as to authorize us to expect in different languages differences
in their treatment, it is that of the vocatives. We are taught that in
Sanskrit the vocative has its own peculiar accent (namely, upon the
first syllable) when it stands at the beginning of a sentence, but is
elsewhere left unaccented. And we can notice even in our own
usage, that a vocative, if preceded by anything addressed to the per-
son or thing which it indicates, is reduced to a position of decided
inferiority with respect to tone, which, if it do not amount to entire
encliticism, we may readily conceive to be by another language
pushed to that extent. This is illustrated not only by the example
which Mr. Bopp cites : " Come ! Frederick," as if the verb alone pos-
sessed the power of subordinating the vocative, but equally well by
" Thou then ! Frederick," or " Never ! Frederick, will I desert thee."
The attention of the person addressed is assumed to be already
gained, and the vocative is a mere parenthesis in the sentence,
uttered, like any other parenthesis, in an undertone and monotone :
if, on the other hand, his attention is sought, the name is first called,
and has a full tone given it.

With the other class the case is altogether different. That a form
of the finite verb, which we are wont to regard as the very life of
the sentence, as by itself capable of constituting a sentence complete
in all its parts, which so often combines into itself ideas and relations
that in another language, or in other parts of the same language,
appear as independent words or accessory clauses — that this, of all
other words, should lose its independent tone, and be reduced to the
subordinate position of an enclitic in the sentence, is certainly strange
enough ; and one might, at first sight, almost feel justified in deny-
ing its truth. Nevertheless, we fully believe that the time is not yet
come for resorting to so extreme a measure : that we have first to
endeavor to comprehend more fully the nature of the phenomenon
as laid before us, in all its rules and all its exceptions, and to strive
faithfully to find some analogy or reasonable ground for it. It is
supported by far too weighty evidence, as an actual phenomenon, not
to require to be considered as such until all the arts of explanation
shall have been essayed upon it in vain. The possibility of its com-
plete comprehension has not yet been given. To expect to obtain
such from the rules of investigators and theorists so shallow and
unphilosophical as the Indian grammarians, would be the height of
unreason, and of accented texts, by the minute examination of which
our view might be filled up and corrected, too few have as yet been
published, nor have those few been studied with a special eye to this
matter. So much as this, at any rate, we can seem to see clearly ;
that it is a true linguistic phenomenon which we have here placed
before our eyes ; its outlines are not such as would have been laid

215

down by arbitrary theorizing ; and it has even been but partially
understood, and imperfectly described, by those who have been the
mediums of the transmission to us of its facts.

Such being the present condition of the investigation, it cannot
but be of interest and importance to establish new rules or principles,
or to reduce to a more exact and philosophical form of statement
such as have been already laid down, and this we shall accordingly
endeavor in a few points to do, without entering into anything like
a thorough discussion of the whole subject.

There are two general classes of exceptions to the rule which de-
prives the verb of its accent ; the one dependent upon the character
of the sentence in which the verb may be found, the other upon its
position in the sentence. For the former the following summary
statement may be given : the verb loses its accent in a primary or
independent, but retains it in an accessory or dependent clause. The
Indian grammarians, and their European followers, have described
the phenomenon in a different manner, keeping out of sight its true
efficient cause. They say merely that the verb retains its accent in
a clause which contains any forms, whether of inflection or deriva-
tion, coming from the relative pronominal root ya. But these forms
constitute, with few exceptions, the whole apparatus of words which
condition the dependency of a clause ; and we farther find that those
exceptions themselves are allowed by theory, and possess in practice,
the same influence upon the verbal accent : they are cet " if," which
is equal to yadi : net " lest," Latin we, equal to yan na : kimcit and
kindred forms, used interrogatively, containing an idea of " whether,"
German ob etwa : and even when the clause, without containing any
particular word which necessitates or indicates it, is to be understood
as dependent, its verb maintains its accent. This last is described as
" a clause containing ca with the signification ' if,' " but although
that particle is generally present, it has its own proper meaning
" and," and is by no means equivalent to yadi or cet.* Now by this
new statement of the phenomenon we seem to have advanced at
least a step toward the comprehension of it. We need go no farther
than to the German to find another language which exhibits a
marked difference in the manner of treating its verbs, according as
they stand in independent or in accessory clauses ; the verb in the
latter being removed from its natural place, and forced to take up a
position at the very end of the clause : and although the analogy be-
tween the two cases of a change of place and a change of accentuation
is not palpable, the fact that they are due to a common cause is suffi-

* So Atharva xi. 3. 56, for example : nd ca prdndm rundddhi, sarvajydnim
jiyate " and even is his breath not stopped, he suffers nevertheless a general
harming;" or xv. 13. 7, kdrshed enam, nd cdi 'nam kdrshet "does he invite him,
does he also not invite him :" i. e. "-whether he does or does not invite him."

ciently significant to call for an examination, and may perhaps lead
to the discovery of a common principle which shall account for both.
The second general class of exceptions depends, as already said,
Upon the position of the verb in the sentence. And under this head,
we are first taught that, if it stand at the commencement of the
sentence, the verb retains its accent. The word sentence, as here
Used, signifies not the logical sentence only, but also the metrical ;
the verse, namely, or the primary element of the full verse, thepdda
(of which, for instance, four compose the ordinary cjoka). This is a
rule which does not seem to call for any special explanation or de-
fense : it is in accordance with what is shown elsewhere, not only by
the Sanskrit itself, but by other languages also : so the Greek always
accents at the beginning of a sentence the words and forms which
in other situations are deprived of their independent stress of voice,
and appear as enclitics. But this rule also is, in the form as given,
only very imperfectly stated : it requires to be so extended as to read :
that the verb is always accented if it stand at the head of its own
particular clause in the sentence. We have here, evidently enough,
only such a development of the rule previously presented as is most
natural and plausible, and was even to have been in advance expected.
Nevertheless, as it has not hitherto, so far as we are aware, been re-
cognized and noted, it is incumbent upon us to support and illustrate
it by citing examples. In Rik, then, i. 79. 11, we read yo no ague
'bhidA'saty dnti dure padtshtd sdh " whoso, O Agni, near or far,
would do us harm, let him fall I" In x. 101. 8, again, mA' vah susroc
camaso dr'nkatA tarn " let not your bowl of offering spill, hold it
firm." In i. 31. 17, A' sAdaya barhishi yakshi ca priydm "cause
them to take seat upon the barhis, and make acceptable offering."
In i. 94. 4, bhdrAme 'dhmdm krndvAma kavi'nshi te " we will bring
fuel, we will make libations, to thee." In Atharva n. 35. 4, vipva-
karman ndmas te pAhy asma'n " O Vic.vakannan, homage to thee,
protect us." In vi. 3. 2, pA'tu gra'va pa'tu somo no Anhasah " pro-
tect us the grinding-stone, protect us Soma, against distress." Here
the several verbs padishtd, dr'nhata, yakshi, krndvAma, pAhi, pa'tu
(in the second case), retain their accent in virtue of this rule, and no
one can fail to see and acknowledge the propriety of their doing so,
if the general principle of the accentuation of a verb when it occu-
pies an initial position be allowed. In a note are given, for farther
consultation, the passages illustrating the rule which have been col-
lected in an examination, not very thorough, of the first and tenth
books of the Rik, as well as those which we have as yet found in
the text of the Atharva.* The only instance anywhere noted of a

*Eiki. 31.3; 32.12; 34.11; 48.3; 54.11; 58.7; 61.2; 62.3; 79.2;
80.3; 93.7; 94.3,12; 100.18; 103. 2 (twice); 118.2; 121.3; 157.4; 163. 3;
165. 12 ; 173. 3 ; 174. 1 ; 182. 1, 4. x. 28. 3 (twice) ; 31. 3 ; 34. 14 ; 40. 5,

217

violation of tlie principle is Rik 1. 134. 3, prd caTcshaya rodasl vdsai/o
'shdsah; where, if rodasi is to be connected with the preceding verb,
as the sense seems to demand, and as the commentator also under-
stands it, the following verb ought to be accented, vdsdya : that it
is not so accented is simply an error in the tradition, which v/e are
fully authorized to correct.

Another prominent rule under the same general head is wont to
be given in the following form : a verb retains its accent when im-
mediately preceded by another verb. Thus in pre 'to mrndta sdha-
dhvam, " go on, slay, overcome," or in teshdm pdhi crudhi' hdvam,
"of them drink, hear our cry," mrndta, sdhadhvam, frudhi are said
to be accented because of their standing in contact with the words
which severally precede them. But it will now be apparent to
every one, almost before we have time to point it out, that this is
merely a particular case under the general rule just established : a
verb under such circumstances must necessarily occupy the initial
position in its own clause ; and it is on that account, and not from
any mysterious influence which the contiguity of another kindred
form has upon it, that it retains its proper accent. Taking one of
the examples formerly given, and altering a little the arrangement
of it swords, so as to read idhmdm bhardma krndvdma havt'nshi te,
although the accent of krndvdma would seem to be brought
thereby under the action of this rule, we should not in fact change
the ground upon which the accent was already before preserved
to it. And in like manner, if we read in the instance last cited
pdhi teshdm frudhi' hdvam, we have taken away from frudhi
neither the reason for its accentuation, nor the accent itself ; that is
only to be effected by changing its place with regard to its own
object, as teshdm pdhi hdvam frudhi, in which case it would have
been brought into a position corresponding to that of pdhi, and
would, like the latter, lose its accent.

Once more, we are told that a verb between which and the begin-
ning of the sentence only vocatives intervene, is also suffered to re-
tain its accent. This, too, is evidently a case of a like character
with those already noticed. A vocative forms no part, properly
speaking, of the sentence or clause to which it is attached ; it does
not in any manner enter into its logical structure ; it is a mere ap-
pendage thereto, an interjection, a parenthesis. If, then, the verb
be preceded only by such a form, it still remains, in effect, at the
head of the sentence, and is accordingly accented. If we have the

9; 62.6: 64.2; 67.12; 70.10; 74.6; 76.4; 89.7; 91.6,13; 104.1,10;
106.11; 108.4; 111.5; 116.7; 133.2; 138. 2 (twice), 5 ; 147.5; 166.3;
161.5; 164.5. Atharva i. 8. 3 ; 17.2. n. 5.4; 10.7. iv. 5.6; 11.12; 21.1.
V. 2. 9. vi. 9. 1 ; 44. 1 ; 99. 3 ; 136. 2. vn. 48. 1. vm. 1.12; 2. 3 ; 4. 1, 13, 18.
rx. 1. 8 ; 6. 61. x. 4. 12 ; 8. 26. XH. 3. 31. xin. 4. 48, 55. xix. 45. 5 ; 49. 6.
VOL. v. 28

218

clause rdkshate ''mam " protect ye this person," in which rdkshata
has the stress of voice, its right to possess the latter is not affected
by the prefixing of a vocative, or of more than one ; and we have
equally vdsavo rdkshate 'mdm, and vicve devd vdsavo rdkshate 'mam.
The cases in which the verb is allowed to preserve its accent are
not thus exhausted. There are sundry particles (so particularly hi)
of which the presence in the same sentence gives it the power to do
so, and not infrequent instances of a more isolated character, and less
icducible to rule, are found to occur. The Indian grammarians, also,
give a whole series of rules for such cases, the arbitrary and unphilo-
sophical character of many of which is at the first glance apparent.
Enough, indeed, we believe, will have been already said, to show
that we cannot in any manner depend upon the presentation of the
facts which is to be found in the native grammars ; that their rules
can only be understood after they have been compared with the facts
themselves, as recorded for us in the accented texts. To these, then,
it becomes us to make our first and most assiduous application ;
when once the Vedas are made public in their entirety, and have
been thoroughly examined and excerpted for this particular purpose,
we may expect to be able to see much farther than at present into
the details of the system, to comprehend parts of it which are as yet
dark to us, and to recast into an intelligible form the teachings of
the native authorities. For that time we must perforce wait, with

what patience we may.

w. D. w.

2. Hernisz's Guide to Conversation in English and Chinese,
and Andrews's Discoveries in Chinese.

A Guide to Conversation in the English and Chinese Languages :
for the use of Americans and Chinese in California and elsewhere.
By STANISLAS HERNISZ, M. D., Attache of the U. S. Legation to
China, Member of the Am. Oriental Soc., etc. etc. Published by
John P. Jewett & Co. Boston, 1855.

THIS work was printed in Paris, with the beautiful Chinese type
of Marcellan Le Grand, and published by J. P. Jewett <fe Co., at the
moderate price of five dollars per copy. It contains one hundred
and seventy-nine oblong octavo pages, this form affording facilities
for placing the columns of English and Chinese side by side.

The author informs us in his preface that he has never had the
assistance of a native Chinese teacher, but that he has obtained his
knowledge of Chinese from the works of Gon§alvez, Medhurst, Bridg-
man, and Williams, and from the Chinese Imperial Dictionary.

219

From these sources the author has compiled a series of progres-
sive elementary exercises in Chinese, somewhat in the style of the
modern progressive lessons employed for learning French and Ger-
man. With but limited experience in the practical use of the Chi-
nese language, it was not to be expected that the author could com-
pile a work of this kind free from errors. While therefore we ad-
mire the enterprise with which he has undertaken so difficult a task,
we feel at liberty to examine the work on its own intrinsic merits,
and point out whatever errors might otherwise mislead those who
use the volume for learning Chinese.

1st. The author states that he has adopted the orthography of
Morrison and Medhurst, as simplified in the more recent publica-
tions of American sinologues. It ought to be known that Morrison
and (after him) Medhurst, have represented Chinese sounds by or-
dinary English orthography, often employing combinations contain-
ing silent vowels ; while Dr. Bridgman, Dr. Williams, and other
American missionaries, have adopted what is commonly called the
continental orthography, which, when applied to the languages of
unenlightened nations, is known as the system of Sir William Jones,
which with slight variations has been followed in romanizing the
languages of India, of the islands of the Pacific, and of the native
tribes of North America. In this system every vowel-sound has a
separate letter to represent it, or, if one letter represents more than
one sound, they are distinguished by diacritical marks, and no ele-
mentary sound has more than one alphabetic representative. No
silent letters are admitted in the system. This gives definiteness to
all the combinations of letters used for writing the sounds of a for-
eign language. This should be called the system of Sir William
Jones adapted to the Chinese language, and not a modification of the
system employed by Morrison and Medhurst.

2nd. Few Chinese scholars would agree with the author in the
opinion that " a knowledge of the Chinese tones is not required in
order to speak the language intelligibly." Chinese tones consist es-
sentially of such qualities of enunciation as are known in English
by the designations monotone, rising, falling and circumflex inflections,
semitone or plaintive strain, tones of command, scorn and contempt,
forcible emphasis, and also an abrupt or suddenly interrupted tone
of voice. Each word must invariably be spoken in its appropriate
tone, or it becomes, essentially, another word, and conveys an
entirely different idea. The tone is an essential part of the word.
It is true that a person living among the Chinese may learn
many words and phrases, and pronounce them correctly by im-
itation, without any theoretical knowledge of the tones ; just as
every one who speaks the English language would ask a direct
question with a rising inflection at the close (just as the Chinese

220

themselves will often add a supernumerary word or syllable with
the rising inflection at the close of a question, when the sen-
tence properly ends with another tone). Yet hundreds of persons
who speak English or Chinese well, may have no clear idea of the
inflections of the voice as described by elocutionists. If these vari-
ous modifications of the voice are essential parts of Chinese words,
it may be asked : how are the various passions and emotions of the
speaker indicated ? We reply, by slowness or rapidity of utterance,
high or low pitch of voice, soft and plaintive or loud and gruft' enun-
ciation, and by appropriate tones on final particles destitute of mean-
ing. Such ideas, passions and emotions as require peculiar modifi-
cations of voice to give them their proper expression, are represented
by words to which are essentially and constantly attached those
peculiar modifications of the voice. With these remarks we are
prepared to say that an early and careful study of Chinese tones, is
of great importance to every one who would acquire a practical
acquaintance with the Chinese spoken language.

3d. In order to enable Chinese to learn English, the author has
selected characters which he thinks may be used as an alphabet, to
illustrate the sounds and use of the English alphabet, and has given
numerous examples of spelling English words with this Sinico-Eng-
lish alphabet. We are sorry to find that many indispensable ele-
ments of such an alphabet are wanting in the system of the author,
if indeed it may be called a system. The author has given for each
of our vowel-letters a Chinese character having a sound like one,
only, of the vowel-sounds represented by that letter, while for the
other vowel-sounds he has given no representative in his alphabet.
For each of our consonant-letters, he has given a Chinese character,
the pronunciation of which begins with the consonant sound (or one
of the sounds) represented by that letter, and ends generally with a
short vowel. He has given no intimation to his Chinese readers,
that the consonant-sound only is to be enunciated, while the final
vowel in the sound of the Chinese character is to be dropped. His
entire Sinico-English alphabet consists simply of very good names
for all the letters in the English alphabet, without enabling the Chi-
nese scholars to understand the sounds of the English letters when
used for spelling words. The consequence is, that a Chinese, study-
ing this book, would give to each word spelt with the author's
Chinese alphabet as many distinct syllables as there are letters used
in spelling the word, as in the following examples :

Rest would be pronounced Urh-e-sih teih.

Bush " " " Pih-wuh-sih-hae.

Help « « " Hae-e-lih-pei.

Local " " " Lih-o-kih-a-lih.

Pilfer " " " Pei-i-lih-fei-e-urh.

221

Thus the Chinese reader would pronounce the name of each letter
in the word, in succession, instead of pronouncing the word itself.
This is a difficulty experienced by every one who attempts to repre-
sent the sounds of proper names by Chinese characters. Where
combinations of consonants and vowels are used to form syllables
unknown to the Chinese, they make as many syllables in the pro-
nunciation as there are characters used to spell the word. In the
Treaty between the United States and China, made by the Embassy
to which Dr. Hernisz was attache, the word President, when pro-
nounced by the Chinese according to the sounds of the characters
used in the treaty, is Pi-li-si-tien-teh.

Had the author analyzed the sounds of a few common Chinese
words, showing to the Chinese readers of his book, first, specimens of
characters of which the pronunciation is a single vowel-sound ; then,
words with two vowels combined ; then, words formed of a conso-
nant followed by a single vowel ; then, a consonant with two vow-
els ; then, more complex combinations in Chinese words ; then, how
the Chinese themselves combine their initial consonants, for which
they have representatives in the " foreign dividers of sound " (as they
are called), which are found in native works, he might have ena-
bled his Chinese readers to understand the nature and use of alpha-
betic characters. After this, by an easy synthesis, he could have
shown that the English language has the same elementary sounds,
combined somewhat differently from what are found in Chinese
words ; and by proceeding from simple to more complex combina-
tions, he could have led on the Chinese scholars to pronounce Eng-
lish words, showing, of course, how words are composed of one,
two, or more syllables. This course would have required a disserta-
tion in the Chinese language itself, as an introduction to a Sinico-
English alphabet. In the construction of such an alphabet those
characters should be selected of which the common use in Chinese
pronouncing dictionaries, as representatives of initial consonants, has
already partially established their use as consonant-letters. The char-
acters to represent vowel-sounds in such an alphabet, should also be
those representatives of final sounds used in Chinese pronouncing dic-
tionaries, where they will answer the purpose ; and where others are
required, they should, if possible, be those characters of which the
pronunciation, in the court-dialect, consists of a single vowel-sound ;
or if the character is pronounced with the union of two or three ele-
mentary sounds, the description of its alphabetic use should point
out whether the first, second, or third elementary sound, of which
its common pronunciation consists, is to be employed when it is used
as an alphabetic symbol. A character should be selected to repre-
sent each vowel-sound, thus giving sometimes several characters as
the equivalent of a single letter in the English alphabet. Where

222

the sound of an English letter has no equivalent in Chinese, it should
be represented by a character of somewhat similar sound, and for a
diacritical mark have attached the ninth radical, which signifies man,
and which is commonly used in the formation of vulgar characters
having sounds different from the sounds attached by classical usage
to the character without this addition.

In the portion of the work which the author calls the Spelling-
Book, he pursues no uniform plan in spelling English words with his
Sinico-English alphabet. In the following examples we have merely
put in place of the Chinese characters the English letters for which the
author has given them as representatives. Leaf is spelt 1-e-f ; lead
(metal), 1-e-d ; copper, k-o-p-e-r ; brass, b-r-a-s ; pebbles, p-e-b-1-s ;
steel, s-t-e 1 ; quartz, q-a-r-t-z ; mine, m-i-n ; lime, 1-i-m ; marble,
m-a-r-b-1 ; while the final e is retained in ore, ape, table, and nine.
One is spelt o-a-n ; two, t-u ; three, t-r-e ; five, f-i-f ; although the
author has a Chinese character for v which he has used in the words
seven and eleven. But in seven all the letters are given, while eleven
is spelt e-1-e-v-n. Thirteen is spelt t-e-r-t-e-n ; while thirty is spelt
with all its letters ; and thousand is t-o-s-e-n-d. Thus it is evident
that the author neither follows the English orthography, nor the
natural sounds of the words, nor any other system consistent with
itself. No guide is given to show the Chinese reader how the words,
spelt with this alphabet, are to be divided into syllables ; no marks
are given to show which part of a word is accented ; nor has the
Chinese reader any means of determining whether a concatenation
of these new alphabetic characters is to be taken as a single word,
or several words. The corresponding Chinese characters, which give
the meaning, are not, in this respect, a correct guide.

For practical purposes, this Chinese alphabet and the spelling-book
are almost entirely useless. A revision that should adapt them to
the purpose of teaching the Chinese the use of the English alphabet,
and the practical method of spelling words, would be nearly equiva-
lent to a reconstruction de novo.

4th. Our views of the Progressive Exercises for learning Chinese
may be best expressed by first quoting the criticisms made by Re-
musat in 1822 upon the grammars of the Chinese language written
by missionaries before his time. He says that the Romish mission-
aries, in their grammars of the Chinese, had endeavored to give a
literal rendering into Chinese of all the shades of meaning expressed
by the various inflections of nouns, and moods and tenses of verbs,
given in Latin grammars. The absurdity of this proceeding, he
says, must be evident to any one who carefully considers the nature
of a language which admits of no inflections of nouns, and in which
the verbs have no forms equivalent to many of the moods and tenses,
<fec., found in Latin verbs.

223

Of Dr. Morrison's Chinese Grammar Remusat also says : " Dr.
Morrison has sought to give Chinese equivalents for the auxiliary
forms to which he had been accustomed in his mother tongue. He
has translated anglicisms, and phrases composed of the auxiliary
verbs, to have, to be, to do, can, &c., with all their combinations, moods
and tenses, ... he has given as pattern-phrases such forms as will
seldom or never be found in [Chinese] books." Somewhat similar
criticisms might be applied to this work of Dr. Hernisz. He has
taken the verb to have as a model for verbs, giving a great variety of
English forms with a Chinese translation : as, / have, I had, I shall
have ; let me have • I have not, I had not, I shall not have • I had
no bread ; I have no bread ; I shall have no bread ; have I? have I
not ? had I not ? shall I not have ? with other variations of number,
person, <fec., varying also the objects after the verb, &c., <fec. The
Chinese character used as a translation of to have signifies, primarily,
there is, and the form / have signifies, literally, there is to me, &c.
A Chinese word of such primitive signification, when carried through
all the English forms of the verb to have, appears in many situations
uncouth and inelegant in Chinese.

Some of the phrases are not idiomatic Chinese, while others are
such as would be seldom or never heard in conversation, or found
in Chinese books.

In the author's list of fractions, he has given the ordinals third,
fourth, fifth, &c., instead of one third, one fourth, one fifth, &c.

The list of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs given
in the Progressive Exercises are generally correct, having been col-
lected from the authors quoted in the preface of the work. There
are, however, some errors which appear to be typographical, and
should be corrected in a table of errata.

We have thus freely noticed what we consider imperfections in
this work, yet no one but a student of Chinese can appreciate the
difficulties encountered in compiling such a work. The author has
evinced great patience and skill in compiling and carrying his work
through the press, and has succeeded as well as could have been
expected in a language so difficult as the Chinese, with no native
teacher at hand to aid him. The general plan of the Progressive
Exercises is good ; and for the class of persons for whom the book
was written, it will answer a good purpose. Indeed, it is almost the
only book in the market for the use of such. For thorough students
of the Chinese language, other and expensive books are desirable ;
but for those who merely wish a moderate practical knowledge of
Chinese, the work of Dr. Hernisz is at once cheap and available. A
good index to the work would add greatly to its value for practical
purposes.

224

The typographical execution of the work is far superior to that of
any similar work with which we are acquainted, and we trust it will
meet with such an extensive sale as to remunerate the author and the
enterprising publishers, and encourage the author, or other Chinese
scholars, to prepare other popular works on the Chinese language,
and thus facilitate intercourse with our oriental neighbors, both in
their own country, and on our western shores.

Discoveries in Chinese. By STEPHEN P. ANDREWS. Published by
Charles B. Norton. New York, 1854.

THIS author has advanced no theory, or principle, in regard to the
structure of Chinese characters, which has not been well known, and
acknowledged, by the great majority of European and American
sinologues, for at least thirty years.

It has long been well known that the simplest Chinese characters
are of hieroglyphic origin, and that many of the compound charac-
ters have been formed by the union of two or more hieroglyphic
symbols, the compound character deriving its meaning in part from
each of the hieroglyphic symbols of which it is composed. Chi-
nese philologists who wrote two thousand years ago tell us that other
characters are formed of two elements, one of which, dropping its
own signification, acts as a phonetic, to give sound to the new char-
acter, while the other hieroglyphic element drops its sound, or name,
and gives merely its signification, in whole, or in part, to the new
character. This is what is called the phonetic system. Mr. Gallery
has endeavored to show that most, if not all, compound characters,
have been formed on this phonetic plan, while Mr. Lay has advanced
the opinion, that even in those characters generally supposed to have
been formed on the phonetic plan, the phonetic or primitive gives a
shade of its own meaning to the complex character of which it
forms a part.

The only shade of novelty in Mr. Andrews's proposition, is the
opinion that all the phonetics, or primitives, as they are frequently
called, of which there are about fifteen hundred in common use,
many of which are themselves compound characters, derive their
own signification, when used as independent characters, from the sig-
nification or position of all the elementary symbols of which they
are composed ; or, in other words, that the phonetic principle has
had no influence in the construction of compound characters which
are themselves afterwards combined with radicals, or elementary sym-
bols, to form still more complex characters. Chinese scholars gen-
erally allow that the principle of combined symbolism applies to
many of the compound phonetics, or primitives, and to very many
combinations of radicals with primitives. Dr. Williams of Canton

225

has shown, in his " Easy Lessons in Chinese," that many of the com-
pound primitives agree in their construction with the phonetic the-
ory : and whoever will read his illustrations and his dissertation on
the structure of the Chinese language in the " Middle Kingdom,"
vol. i, chap. 10, will probably be better satisfied with Dr. Williams's
exposition than with that of the so called " Discoveries in Chinese."*
Mr. Andrews, after giving his views of the mode of analyzing one hun-
dred and forty-one characters, containing, as he thinks, the emblem
of a tree, says : " If the solutions which I have offered prove in any
good degree satisfactory to the learned, then I have to state that I
am certain I should be able to give an equally satisfactory account
of most of the remaining emblems of the language, throughout their
composition in the elementary characters." We would say that many
of his analyses are very unsatisfactory, while some of them are ex-
tremely fanciful and absurd ; e. g., the characters which he has num-
bered 110, 111, 112, and others where the same element occurs.
What he calls a wood-pile, if examined in ancient Chinese dictiona-
ries, is found to be a real picture of a bird, so plain that a child
would recognize it. The eighth character in his list is also easily ex-
plained by reference to ancient dictionaries, where the horizontal line
is replaced by three mouths, which the lexicographer says are the
roots (rootlets by which the tree takes its nourishment). These facts,
so obvious on inspection of ancient Chinese dictionaries, would have
been far more to the author's purpose than the analyses he has given.
The analysis which the author has given of many other characters is
very unsatisfactory, while their true analysis is not so obvious. The
system of symbolic analysis of Chinese characters might undoubt-
edly be prosecuted to much advantage in the study of Chinese, and
yet the book before us shows that the author has made little if any
advance upon the previous labors of others in the same department,
and his book is by no means worthy of the title which he gives to
it, of " Discoveries in Chinese."

M. C. WHITE.

* According to the analysis of Chinese characters adopted by Chinese phi-
lologists, as exhibited by Dr. Williams in the " Middle Kingdom," voL i, chap. 10,
there are 608 characters evidently pictorial in their origin ; 740 composed of
two or more pictorial symbols with significations derived from the combined
meaning of the elementary symbols ; 107 in which the idea is indicated by the
position or mode of combination of the elementary symbols ; 372 with significa-
tions derived by inverting or changing the original position of the elementary
symbols ; 598 with metaphorical meanings, as when a picture of the heart is
used for the mind; and 21810 characters formed on the phonetic system, i. e.,
by combining two more simple characters, using one merely to express sound,
and the other to convey an idea slightly modified from the original idea ex-
pressed by that part of the character when used alone.

VOL. v. 29

226

3. Roth and Whitney's Edition of the Aiharva- Veda.

Atkarva Veda Sanhita herausgegeben van R. Roth und W. D.
Whitney. ErsteAbth. Berlin, Ferd. Diiminler's Verlagsbuchhand-
lung: 1855. pp. 890, gr. 8vo.

WE welcome this edition of the so-called Fourth Veda with
peculiar pleasure. Each of the other Vedas had already found its
editor, and was being drawn upon for illustrations of Indian an-
tiquity, far in advance of what could be derived from the Sanskrit
literature of the epic age. But the Atharva remained unappropri-
ated, and its contents were almost wholly unknown to the learned
world, until our countryman Professor Whitney, at the suggestion of
Professor Roth of Tubingen, whose lectures he had been attending,
undertook, in conjunction with him, to edit it. The larger share of
the work done has thus far fallen to Mr. Whitney ; so that this edi-
tion of the Atharva, though enriched by the learning of one of the
first Sanskritists of Germany, may be regarded as in a great measure
the fruit of American scholarship. Nor need we refrain from ex-
pressing, in this connection, the hope that, when the work is com-
pleted, the nationality of one to whom it will certainly owe a large
part of its merit, may be distinctly recognized even on the title-page.
Editions of Sanskrit works by American scholars are not as yet so
numerous that our country can afford to lose any credit in this re-
spect which may properly fall to it.

It is unnecessary to repeat what is stated by Mr. Whitney himself,
in previous Numbers of this Journal, respecting the internal charac-
ter and the age of this Veda, and its relations to the other collections
of the same name.* The volume before us embraces the whole of
the Atharva-text, with the exception of the twentieth book, which,
being made up chiefly of extracts from the Rik, is regarded as an
appendage, and not as originally a part of it. Whatever is peculiar
in that book, however, will be included in the second fasciculus of
this edition. The nineteenth book, also, is considered to be of later
date than the previous eighteen, and has caused much labor to the
editors, on account of the corrupt state of the text found in all the
manuscripts. The reading of the manuscripts in all important places
in this book where corrections have been made, is given in the mar-
gin, in order to facilitate a judgment upon the emendations adopted.
Occasional emendations of the manuscript-readings, in other portions
of the text, are left, as we learn from Mr. Whitney, to be pointed
out in the notes. The number of manuscripts collated for this edi-
tion, either for the whole text, or for portions of it, is quite consider-
able : namely, seven in Berlin, all incomplete ; one in Paris, com-

* See Journ. Am. Or. Soc. voL iii. p. 305, f£, vol. iv. p. 254, ff.

227

plete ; two in Oxford, complete or very nearly so ; and three in
London, one of them incomplete. The number of manuscripts relied
upon is, for each portion of the text, from six to eight, in general
seven. This is all the manuscript-material known to exist in the
European libraries, and is regarded as forming a sufficient foundation
for a satisfactory text, considering the well known minute agreement
of the Vedic MSS. The aid of other manuscripts would hardly be
of much value, unless they should be of another school, and present
a sensibly different text ; and of the existence of such even in India
there is as yet no evidence. For these statements respecting the
manuscript authority for a text of the Atharva, we are indebted to a
private communication from Mr. Whitney.

The second fasciculus will embrace an introduction to the Atharva,
a commentary on the text, consisting of critical and explanatory
notes, with citations from the pada-patha, or analyzed text, of this
Veda, from the pratif&khya, or grammatical explanations, belonging
to it, from its anukramani, or catalogue of authors, subjects and
metres, and from its sutra, or ritual, together with a concordance of
the Atharva with the other collections of Vedic hymns.

A brief notice of this very important publication must suffice for
the present. Even in its incomplete state, it will be appreciated by
all who apply themselves to the study of Vedic literature, as well as
confer honor upon its editors, and upon the enterprizing publisher.
May it also be happily completed !

VI. PHOENICIAN INSCRIPTION OF SIDON.

THE great work of Gesenius on the existing monuments of Phoe-
nician writing and language, published in 1837, embraces eighty-
one inscriptions, of various lengths, exclusive of legends on coins.
Since that time, many more have been brought to light. According
to a late writer,* there had been discovered, in 1852, thirty-five in-
scriptions not known to Gesenius. The most important of all these,
undoubtedly, is the monument of Marseilles, discovered in 1845,
which gives us what may be called the sacrificial code in force at a
temple of Baal in that city. But this is, much mutilated. For par-
ticulars in regard to many of these, the Etude Demonstr. de la Langue
Phen. et de la Langue Libyque, Paris, 1847, by Mons. A. C. Judas,
may be consulted. The present year has added to the number another
very valuable inscription, in twenty-two lines, each line containing on

* F. Hoefer in a volume of the series published at Paris under the title of
" L'Univers," as we are informed by Mr. Abbot of the Boston Athenseum.

228

an average forty-six letters, and the whole in perfect preservation.
No Phoenician monument which can compare with it in length and
condition, has ever before been discovered. It is also unique as re-
gards its locality, having been found at Sidon, in the very heart of
ancient Phoenicia. Nor is its intrinsic interest out of keeping with
these external circumstances which give it a peculiar value. This
discovery was made on the 19th of January last, in the course of
excavations undertaken with a view to finding treasure. For some
time past, it seems, there has been a vague tradition current at Sidon,
that treasure might be found by digging in the old grave-yards of
the city ; a tradition verified in 1853-54 by the discovery of three
copper pots, each containing eight hundred pieces of gold of the
coinage of Philip and Alexander of Macedon. Some of these gold-
pieces have been sent to this country, and two of them are in the
Cabinet of the Oriental Society. The search for gold being prosecu-
ted with renewed ardor, this inscription was disinterred. The fol-
lowing account of the circumstances is extracted from a letter to the
editor of the Journal of Commerce, dated Beirut, Feb. 11, 1855.

" On the 19th of January last, some men were digging for more
hid treasure in an ancient cemetery on the plain of Sidon, called
Mughorat Tubloon, when, at the depth of about twelve feet below
the surface, and near the walls of ancient edifice, they uncovered
a sarcophagus, upon the lid of which there is a long Phoenician
inscription. The lid is of a blue-black marble, intensely hard
and taking a very fine polish. The lid is about eight feet long by
four feet wide. The upper end is wrought into the figure of a
female [?] head and shoulders of almost a giant size. The features
are Egyptian, with large-full, almond-shaped eyes, the nose flattened
and lips remarkably thflp, and somewhat after the negro-mould.
The whole countenance is smiling, agreeable and expressive beyond
any thing I have ever seen in the disinterred monuments of Egypt
or Nineveh. The head-dress resembles that which appears in Egyp-
tian figures, while on each shoulder there is the head of some bird —
a dove or pigeon — and the bosom is covered by what appears to be
a sort of cape, with a deep fringe, as of lace. On the lid, below the
figure-head, is the inscription, consisting of twenty-two lines, closely
written.

" In the meantime a controversy has arisen in regard to the own-
ership of the discovered monument, between the English and French

consuls in this place The Turkish governor of Sidon, in

this state of the matter, has closed up the ground and protected it
by a guard of soldiers while the question is before the courts. Mr.
Thompson informs me that in the process of the diggings the men
opened large and elegant rooms cut out of the solid rock, one of
which he had entered and examined, and which could be hardly less

than thirty feet square by fifteen in height, the ornamental work of
which was of the highest finish."*

Not long after this discovery, the writer received from Dr. H. A.
DeForest, of the Syrian Mission of the American Board, a manu-
script copy of the inscription. Another copy was sent to the Albany
Institute, and was very promptly lithographed under the auspices of
that association. A copy of this lithograph, engraved on wood, was
published in the United States Magazine for April 15th. It is under-
stood to have been Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck, a missionary of the
American Board in Syria, who made the copy from the original.
The plate attached to this paper is the Albany lithograph (copies of
which were obtained through the kind assistance of Mr. H. A. Homes
of the State Library at Albany), with some numbers added over cer-
tain letters, referring to the following variations found in the copy
received from Dr. DeForest :f

1. 6. 11. 16.

17.

7. 12.

Not found in DeF. MS.

ii.

;

18.
13.

19.
14.
9.

L r

20.
10. 15.

21.

* TJiere is reason to believe that further excavations on Phoenician soil
would lead to other important discoveries like this. A correspondent says :
" Cannot the Society induce some of your wealthy and generous Bostonians to
give the aid of their long purses to some American Layard, for exploring the
sites of ancient Tyre, Sidon, Citium, etc. There is every reason to believe
that such researches now undertaken would meet with the richest reward."

f A letter from Dr. Smith of Beirtit to Dr. Kobinson, dated May 15, 1855,
says that the inscription still remained " covered in the earth and inaccessi-

230

Several American scholars have interested themselves in the read-
ing of this inscription, and have communicated on the subject with
the writer. These are Prof. J. W. Gibhs of Yale College, Prof.
W. H. Green of Nassau Hall, Kev. Dr. J. Murdock of New Haven,
Rev. Dr. W. Jenks of Boston, Mr. W. W. Turner of Washington,
Mr. W. A. Miller of Albany, and Rev. Dr. C. F. Cruse of New York.
It is understood, also, that Rev. W. A. Thomson, and Rev. Dr. E.
Smith, well-known American missionaries in Syria, and accomplished
scholars, have succeeded in reading the greater part of the inscrip-
tion. From these gentlemen, however, no communication relative
to the particulars of their interpretation is known to have been re-
ceived, as yet, in this country. Here it is proper to observe that
portions of the inscription, of considerable length, present little or
no difficulty to one at all acquainted with the Hebrew ; while other
portions are quite difficult to be interpreted. It must also be re-
marked, that the similarity of some of the Phoenician letters to one
another (particularly of I and n, which differ only as to the length
of their lower limb ; and of d and r, which differ only in the direc-
tion in which they incline, while the b differs from either d or r
only in its lower limb being curved ; and the ts and t, some forms of
which also differ only in the direction in which they incline) gives
room to suppose that the copyist may not in all cases have distin-
guished the letters which make the correct reading; and there
is some reason to believe that the stone-cutter may have made
occasional mistakes in the original lettering. The obscure passages,
therefore, allow of some latitude of interpretation. The following
translation has been made by the writer in consultation with Pro-
fessor Gibbs, and with the valuable assistance of his suggestions and
criticisms. It is presented with diffidence, yet not without hope of
its contributing to the elucidation of the monument. In the Hebrew
transcript, some letters which are supposed to be superfluous in the
original, the stone-cutter, or the copyist having carelessly inscribed
the same letter twice, are enclosed in parentheses. A character
which it seems necessary to supply in the first line, is distinguished
by brackets.

ble ;" but refers to a re-examination of the original by Rev. Mis, Thomson,
after it was first copied, which led him to " correct a few letters," and adds
that Mr. Thomson had " sent his copy to Chevalier Bunsen, who has placed it
in the hands of Prof. Ditterich [Dieterici], who will publish it." But whether
either of the copies sent to this country embraces these corrections i» not
known.

231

HEBREW TRANSCRIPT OF THE FOREGOING INSCRIPTION.

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233

TRANSLATION.

Linel. In the month Bui, in the year fourteen, 14, departed the
king's king Eshmuu'iyed, king of the Sidonians,

" 2. son of king Tabnith, king of the Sidonians. Speaks king Esh-
mun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, saying : I have been carried
away,

" 3. I have been swallowed up (by Sheol) within my covert ; there
is an end of burthens within my vestibule ; and I am repos-
ing in my enclosure and in my sepulchre,

" 4. in a place which I have built. My imprecatory prohibition
in conjunction with all the kingdoms (is as follows) : And
let no man open my place of repose,

" 5. nor scrutinize, within my place of sleep, how it is with men
within the place of sleep, nor take away the enclosure of my
place of repose, nor remove

" 6. the inner part of my place of repose. If thou enterest my
place of repose, although a man who judgest like El, mayest
thou hear a judgment by all the kingdoms.

" 7. And as for every man who shall open the entrance of my
place of repose, would that he who shall take away the en-
closure of my place of repose, would that he who shall
remove the inner part of my place of repose, —

" 8. let there not be prepared for any one whomsoever a place of
repose in the society of the Rephaim, and let him not be
buried in a sepulchre, nor let there be prepared a son for any
one whomsoever, and let it be ill with him below.

" 9. Let whosoever is refractory have a judgment by the holy
gods in conjunction with the kingdom, through the head-rule
of the son of the king of the Sidonians over the kingdoms.

" 10. Would that that man who shall open the entrance of my
place of repose, would that he who shall take away my en-
closure,—

"11. I pray that he may have experience of this saying. Would
that the man who kills, — let there not be prepared for any
one whomsoever a field of sweet peace

" 12. in the midst of the high-places of the Light, among those
living under the sun, after the manner in which I am resting.
I have been carried away, I have been swallowed up (by
Sheol) within my covert ;

" 13. there is an end of burthens within my vestibule. As for me,
me Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, son of

" 14. king Tabnith, king of the Sidonians, grandson of king Esh-
mun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, and my mother Amashtoreth,

VOL. v. SO

234

L. 15. priestess of Ashtoreth our lady, the queen, daughter of king
Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, lo, we have built the
house of

" 16. the gods, the house of judgment, of the land of the sea ; and
we have established the (house of) Ashtoreth — let the name
of the Light be exalted ! and it is we

" 17. who have built the house of my mother, wide spread, rich,
the light of the midst of the hill, and my abode — let the
name of the Light be exalted ! and it is we who have built
the temples of

" 18. the divinity of the Sidonians, in Sidon, the land of the sea :
the temple of Baal-Sidon, and the temple of Ashtoreth — the
name of Baal (be exalted) ! and until the Lord of kings shall
give to us

" 19. the delectableness and beauty of the land of Tyre, the garden

'-,*'•'' of the plain country, we have taken possession for Marathus
of the fortifications which she made, and we have added to

" 20, the citadels of the borders of the land, in order to protect all
the Sidonians forever. My imprecatory prohibition in con-
junction with all the kingdoms (is as follows) : And let no
man open my entrance,

"21. nor pall down my entrance, nor remove the inner part of my
place of repose, nor take away the enclosure of my place of
repose. Let whosoever is refractory have a judgment

" 22. by these holy gods, and let the kingdoms cut him off, him,
and the man who kills ; so that it may be ill with them
forever.

NOTES.

L. 1. a. — mi— ^sa'-iao ^D5> h«Tpa Via JTV.3. > i.e. "in the month
Bui, in the year fourteen, 14." — On b^S, see 1 Kings 6 : 38.
In ^02) the D is a permutation for \U : see Gesenius, Monum.
p. 432. The date seems to be given in two forms, by words
as well as figures, for greater precision. Consequently, as the
words must control the figures, an additional unit-mark is to
be supplied. The numeral signs here used also mark the
dates of the autonomous coins of Sidon, Ptolemais, and Mara-
thus, and have been, hitherto, found only on coins, with one or
two exceptions.* The era dated from on these coins is B. C.
111. See Monum. pp. 86 ft'., 264.

* In the first line of Inscr. Cit. 1. some numerals may be plainly seen, after
the expression DD'ilis , and followed by ... ""jb/2 ?3 , as in the inscription be-
fore us. Gesenius 'has left this passage unexplained: see Monum. p. 125. —

235

L. l.b.— trsWS rjb£ n^satiN ryb^sbtt nb$ , i.e. "departed
the king's king Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians." — On
^5 tor J-rba , see Monum. p. 58. *]b»hsb& must be an epithet.
It may be read so as to mean either "the king's king," or
" the reigning (as opposed to " titular") king," or " rex a rege
constitutus :" comp. the name 'frpib/3. = a rege (sc. Baal)
datus, in Monum. p. 134, Inscr. Cit. 4. A passage in line 18
of this inscription, beginning tT^btt pi "IN 13^ \F? ^51, fa-
vors an interpretation of the epithet as implying subordina-
tion, whether to Baal or to some superior human potentate.
Such an implication, if supposed, will account for the exclu-
sive use of the simpler title ^bft , in the same connection, in
all other parts of the inscription. On T* y 5 73 UJN = the Re-
stored by Eshmun, see Monum. p. 145, Inscr. Oit. 17.

[The frequent occurrence of this name in an inscription
purely Phoenician (see lines 1, 2, 13, 14, 15) is a voucher for
its Phoenician origin, and shows that Eshmun was a Pho?ni-
cian divinity: comp. Movers, Die Phosnizier, Th. i. p. 527 ft'.,
who combines Eshmun with the celestial sphere, or primum
mobile. — j. w. o.]

L. 2. a. — &->DTT>S£ rfbtt rpasn rjbr; "ja, i. e. " son of king Tabnith,
king of the Sidonians." — Respecting rP35Fl, see Monum. pp.
115-118, and Die Phcen., i. p. 616 ft", it is probably iden-
tical with Tew^, the name given by Diodorus to a king of
Sidon in the time of Artaxerxes Ochus : see Bibl. Hist., xvi.
§ 42 ff. The double v of this name is explained by rP3Sn .
The name n^D (n^ip) occurs in several Phoenician inscrip-
tions (Athen. 1. ; Carthag. 1, 2, 3, 5), as belonging to a female
divinity, and has been supposed to be identical with the Greek
Tivvrjg. In the application of this name to a man there
is an ellipsis of "DP, as in"" 'Aara^os derived from rniPKZJy
for rniPrtB3> "OP (like the ellipsis of rpa in niinuiy for
nl^nuJi' ZT'a, Deut. 1 : 4.), the name of a king of Tyre.
Gesenius supposed the divinity r>2n to be originally Egyptian ;
but Movers claims for her an Assyrian origin. The tablets
of Nineveh may decide the question, and fully identify nasn
with nan.

L. 2. b— "ipfeua ^Kt*^ fi^TSt -fbXJ 1»»3»tt5{« Tjba W, i. e.
" speaks king Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, saying : I
have been carried away." — On n5TJJ3 for •'Fibtia, see Monum.
p. 58 ; Prof. Green first suggested the possibility that the
character following the a of this word might be T , which gave
us our reading.

236

L. 3. a. — Tja^lN "pa &rP tr-T^ft ^DOIE pa 'WV?, i. e. "I havo
been swallowed up (by Sheol) within my covert ; there is an
end of burthens within my vestibule." — On "W23 , see Lex.
sub 3^33 , and Prov. 1 : 12. Respecting ^SDW and TiftVlN ,
see 2 Kings 16:18 and Ezek. 40 : 7 ; in the latter word, the
fern, form takes the place of the masc. of the Hebrew : see
Monum.-p. 440. For the meaning given to *pa, comp. 'pafc
before a sing, noun in Hebr., and the use of Arab. Q*J = in-
tra, in the same connection. Observe, in reference to this
passage, that the sarcophagus on which this inscription was
found, was disinterred " near the walls of an ancient edifice."

L. 3. b. — "^JPSI ^yrjS "Obi* SSto'T, i. e. "and I am reposing in
my enclosure and in my sepulchre." — On TiVln , see Lex.
sub b^rt '. the word Vft in Hebr. generally denotes a rampart
around an open space. With line 3 compare Is. 14 : 18.

L. 4. a. — TpsaUJN ttpaa, i. e. "in a place which I have built."—
•1CN for Ttpit is explained by supposing an assimilation of ^
to the following consonant, before the dropping off of the
initial K .

L. 4. b. — rrtb^J33a""V5>1triK ^SS^p, i.e. "my imprecatory prohibi-
tion in conjunction with all the kingdoms (is as follows)." —
For the reading 1*231 p we are indebted to Mr. Turner : see
Buxtorf, Lex. Ckald.mb &Dp. By rrt 3^*353 "^3 is to be

-»» * t ; - T

understood the several kingdoms which at the period of the
inscription composed the Phoenician confederation. Movers
states (Die Phoen., u. i. p. 550) that, in the time of the Per-
sian supremacy, all the Phoanician cities were united in a
confederation, at the head of which stood the royal cities of
Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus ; and that the central power of the
union was a council, consisting of the kings of Sidon, Tyre,
and Aradus (Sidon taking the lead), and three hundred other
representatives o£ the three principal cities, together with the
high-priest of Ashtoreth. This council took cognizance of
affairs of peace and war, and doubtless of the interests of the
common religion. The disturbance of the repose of the dead
was viewed as a sacrilegious act : see line 9.

L. 4. c. — "^3iptt-rPN fins"1 Vi< tHN-bsi, i. e. "and let no man
open my place of repose." — The full form rPN for n$ before
the object is peculiar, but admits of no question. In the
Punic passages of Plautus, this particle is yth; comp. also
Gesenius, Thes. sub voce.

237

L. 5. a.— Matt fa tPUTNS TBtta fa iDjpa? bin, i.e. "nor scruti-
nize, within my place of sleep, how it is with men within the
place of sleep." — The 1 of btfl comes from line 4.

L. 5. b.— otoan biO ^3\p» nyrrrPK Kto1; bin, i.e. "nor take
away the enclosure of my place of repose, nor remove." — The
0 of 072 S"1 comes from line 6.

L. 6. a. — ias>\p)a ab , i. e. " the inner part of my place of repose." —
From line 3. b. and the parallelism in lines 5-6 between

"asuja nbTrrpK Kim bN and -a^uto & on?"1 b«, it
. f . . _ .. . T . - . T . . .. -.-

appears that by ab is meant the *iaj? within the riVn .

L. 6. b. — bN3 fi a^ •*£ tm EN P]N ""bra a3tt5E fife*, i- e. "if
thou enterest my place of repose, although a man who art
chief judge, like El." — The change in this line to the form
of direct address adds force to the threatening. With "p a^
comp. ili^n a"i = architect, in Monum. p. 134, Inscr. Cit. 4 ;
the connection with line 6. c. indicates a play upon the word
•p. Respecting Vtt, see Die Phoen., n. i. pp. 105, 106, and
i.'pp. 254 ff., 316 tf. If El was, as Movers says, the local
divinity of Byblus and Berytus, this reference to him implies
some connection between Sidon and Northern Phoenicia;
compare the mention made of Marathus in line 19.

L. 6. c. — n!obtttt~b3£ 'p'la 573U5r-i, i. e. "mayest thou hear a
judgment by all the kingdoms." — -This clause imprecates a
judgment upon the supposed offender, on the part of the
Phoenician confederation : see note on line 4. b.

L. 7. a. — rrstitt nVi> nnsau;N DlK-Vsi, i.e. "and as for every

• ,. : • -- -:•:•-: i r r :

man who shall open the entrance of my place of repose." —
The } of Vial comes from line 6.

L. 7. b. — ^asiptt n^rnrPN Nto"\p« EN, i. e. " would that he who
shall take away the enclosure of my place of repose." —

L. 7. c. — ^asipft ab &725>*jpN £M«, i.e. "would that he who shall
remove the inner part of my place of repose." — ia3ttJ of the
word ^asUJa comes from line 8.

L. 8',k.— *iaga*^5|^ bin b'WB'T-nK asipa *xb 713^ b«, i. e.

" let there not be prepared for any one whomsoever a place
of repose in the society of the Rephaim, and let him not be
buried in a sepulchre." — On £TJ<B"} , see Thes. sub voce.

L. 8. b.— nnn SflTn J? ^ flS1; bin ,'iie. " nor let there be pre-
pared a son 'for any one whomsoever, and let it be ill with
him below." — The word rUnn comes from line 9. " Below "
a=in Sheol.

238

L. 9. a.— K5b»»"nK &vihj?rt CPSibNiia T^ ^^l ^b, i.e. "let
whosoever is refractory have a judgment by the holy gods in
conjunction with the kingdom." — The 1 of TiD1^ has the
force of a relative: see Nordheimer, Gr. Hebr. § 1093, 2. a.
On tTDibit, see Monum. pp. 368, 369, Pun. ap. Plaut., and
compare the name Abdalonimus, given to a Phoenician king
by Quintus Curtius and Justin ; the, initial N of this word is
a permutation for y : see Judas, Etude Demonstr. p. 111.
The final K of fcobsa is a fern, sign : see Monum. p. 440.

L. 9. b. — rfDVo/a-rrtt train"1:* pb» fa buJE wfioa, i.e. "through

the head-rule of the son of the king of the Sidonians over the
kingdoms." — The words n*i a'btDft ~rPi< trairpJt come from
line 10. The p of pbfc is a permutation for s ; and the n of
E'OirpX, the same for 1. With regard to the meaning of
this clause, see note on line 4. b., and comp. line 6. c. The
offender is threatened with a judgment by the protecting gods
of the kingdom of Sidon, through the headship of Eshmun-
'iyed's successor over the Phoenician confederation.

L. 10. a. — ''lastta n?3> nnS'ipN anil tint* DN, i.e. "would that that
man who shall open the entrance of my place of repose." —

L. 10. b. — vibTi-rPN Xto'UJN t3K, i.e. " would that he who shall take
away my enclosure." — The word Vib"1!! comes from line 11.

L. 11. a. — tfij-j nVjatt S^n^-iM , i. e. "I pray that he may have
experience of this saying." — On the grammatical form of
SnT^ , comp. Gr. Hebr. § 358 ; and for the meaning given
to it,' see Id. §152.

L.n.b.— aiu tfiVu) trito ijab ^^ ^ rpart •% tm &x, i. e.

" would that the man who kills — let there not be prepared for
any one whomsoever a field of sweet peace." — The s of aia
comes from line 12. On it) for JTtt), comp. Monum. p. 58.

L. 12. a.— rn ^bNs uiEiuJ nnn b'jna rtjit rfibsJa ^a, i.e. "in the

midst of the high-places of the Light, among those living un-
der the sun, after the manner in which I am resting." — With
"liN rnVs>tt comp. b^a ni^tt, recognized in Monum. p. 424
as the original of Malethubalus, the name of a mountain in
Mauritania; comp. also ^3 nifta in Numb. 22 : 41, and
see 2 Kings 17 : 32. ^iN probably refers to Baal : comp.
En1 ^iNft fc'iJ in line 16. b., and see, on the sidereal signifi-
cance of Baal and Ashtoreth, Die Phcen., i. pp. 180 fl'., 605 ff.
L. 12. b. ) This passage is a repetition from line 2. b. — line 3. a. as fol-
L. 13. a. j lows: •'n^ViN ^3. &W ^^^^ >|SD!i5a fti ""najVa "'riVTja,
i. e. " I have been carried away, I have been swallowed up

239

(by Sheol) within my covert ; there is an end of burthens
within my vestibule."—

L. 13. b.— fa traiT^ Tjbtt T'ajSfciBN rsbN "'SbN, i.e. "as for me,
me Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, son of." — On the
repetition of ^pbN , see Gr. Hebr. § 851.

L. 14. a. — fa fa diaiT«iS T\yn n^in ?jb)a, i.e. "king Tabnith,
king of the Sidoniaus, grandson of." —

L. 14. b. — rn'inuJy&K "^NI trs/cr^ ?jb!a ns'wa-tpjt ?]b:o, i. e.

"king Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians, and my mother
Amashtoreth." — The name of the king's mother is probably a
contraction from rninip3> ntttt = the handmaid of Ashto-
reth : see Monum. p. 132, Inscr. Cit. 2.

L. 15. a. — roball lana'n rnitVtp? n:Jri3, i.e. " priestess of Ash-
toreth our lady, the queen." — On the fern, sign n in npSTlS,
na"i and rob^rt , see Monum. p. 439. The title of n3"\ is
given to the goddess rP2n in several Phoenician inscriptions
of Carthage.

L. 15. b. — S-oiTlS T\yn "PSittTN ?jba ra , i. e. " daughter of king
Eshmun'iyed, king of the Sidonians." — The name T5>3/a7N is
undoubtedly identical with TSOfa'ipN , by a permutation of
T for ui , whether the king referred to is the grandfather of
Eshmun'iyed II. or not : it is quite possible that Tabnith
married his sister, especially if she had not the same mother
as himself.

L. 15. c. — r^sprPN l^Sa btf, i. e. "lo, we have built the house of." —

L.I 6. a. — tP y-}i< fn rirzTTPN b^ibN, i-e- " the gods, the house
of judgment, of the land of the sea."

L.ie.b.— siariMn tni -flaw bv n^in^'i-n^N la-rto^, i- e. "and

we have established the (house of) Ashtoreth — let the name
of the Light be exalted! and it is we." — The \l) of miD^
is a permutation for D. rniftiin is a contraction from
n^lPiUJS''1^ , there being an ellipsis of rra (see note on line
2. a.), 'and ••i being the gen. sign, borrowed from the Syriac :
see Monum. p. 144. Perhaps the building here spoken of was
the residence of the priestesses of Ashtoreth ; line 1 8 shows
that it was not a temple. For an ejaculation similar in form
to that supposed in this and the next line, see Monum. p. 215,
Inscr. Tripol. 1. Line 18. b. shows that "littft was a title of
Baal.

L. 17. a.— ib aizj;ji •nrt abb ^3 snti nT-w ^axb n^ narnuJK,
i. e. " who have built the house of my mother, wide spread,
rich, the light of the midst of the hill, and my abode." —

240

L. 17. b. — fiipfc W32113K 15ft2Jn ^ ^i**^ a^' i>e< "!et the name of
the Light be exalted ! and it is we who have built the temples."

L. 18. a.— f ITS bwb rpa tn y*jN ^vsa ITS'ITS ^V6, i.e.

" of the gods of the Sidonians, in Sid'on, the land of the sea :

the temple of Baal-Sidon." — On pi^N for ^ibtf , see Monum.

p. 58. With p)-p2Z b3>3 comp. ^2 \V3. =Baal (tutelar god

of) Tyre, Monum. p. 96, Inscr. Melit. 1.
L. 18. b. — "bs>3 tip rnintf5i>b rPSl, i.e. "and the temple of Ash-

toreth, the name of Baal (be exalted) !" — There appears to

be an ellipsis, here, of QVi, which is easily supplied from the

context: see lines 16, 17.
L. 18. c. — trrjba 'Jinx lab frP W, i.e. "and until the Lord of

kings shall give to us" — fcriVtt filtf means either Baal, or

some superior human potentate : see the note on line 1. b.

" Us" = our dynasty.
L. 19. a.— SntoaiBN ViNtt f5 1'S yn» W) Yn-rPN, i.e. "the

v T : v -j I v »• T ' — i v -.• • . •

delectableness and beauty of the land of Tyre, the garden of
the plain country." — The form of is in *\£ and V"ltttl , as in
y-}N of 1. 16. a., differs from that found elsewhere in the in-
scription ; but the same form is used interchangeably with ^
in the names of Tyre and Sidon and the Sidonians, on the
coins of those cities: see Monum. Tab. 34. At the date of
this inscription, then, Tyre had separated itself from the
Phoenician confederacy. The Tyrians, we know, did not act
with the other states of Phoenicia in reference to submission
to Alexander : see Diodorus, Bibl. Hist., xvii. § 40.
L. 19. b. — V !)3DD'I1 nVPSlDN niaSJ? mttb siSllti, i. e. "we have

: ; -T: - -: T ••• - ; --- -- : ; -

taken possession for Marathus of the fortifications which she
made, and we have added to." — From a very early period,
the city of Marathus and the island of Aradus lying opposite
to it, were politically united under the king of the latter. In
the time of the Seleucidse, Marathus was destroyed by the
Aradians. See Die Phoen., n. i. pp. 100-102.

L. 20. a.— bVisV bW^-Vs »bsV y\N Vina niVa«a, i.e. "the

• : • • _':•"•.••.• j -s -

citadels of the borders of the land, in order to protect all
the Sidonians forever." The initial ft of rnb3>ft comes from
line 19. This word seems to have the same d'buble meaning
which nittS has in Hebr. : comp. -fitf nlb5>J3 in line 12. a.
and Ps. 18 :T34 with 2 Kings 17 : 32. On a'^il^-'bs , see
Die Phoen., n. i. p. 92 : the name "Sidonians" is here applied
to the people of all the kingdoms of the Phoenician confede-
racy, Sidon being the political head.

241

L. 20.b. — This passage is a repetition of line 4. b. as follows:
n15bJ3!D~te""riK "Wlp, i.e. " my imprecatory prohibition,
in conjunction with all the kingdoms (is as follows)." —

L. 20. c. — TVy rtr.SP btt tnK-'bS1? , i. e. "and let no man open

• T - - : • - TT T •.

my entrance." —
L.21.a.— ^3TC5a 5b ojaan bin •'n?? n1-)^ ViO , i. e. "nor pull

down my entrance, nor remove the inner part of my place of

repose." — See the note on line 6. a.
L. 21. b. — ^3 '^73 nyrrrrN Nil^ ^JO , i. e. "nor take away the

enclosure of my place of repose." —
L. 21. c. — fitf "iiDi ^ab , i.e. " let whosoever is refractory have a

judgment." — Comp. line 9. a. We read ^O"1 , here, by a

slight alteration of the Phoenician text, substituting ^ for /^ .

L.22.a.— niabassi lais^i ttV» mzftijprt tnVbNft , i.e. "by

these holy gods, and let the kingdoms cut him off." — The
initial To of d^ibKft comes from line 21. fT?N, rather than
btf , is sanctioned by hily in Plaut. 1, 9 : see Monum. pp.
368, 438. On the agreement of rVobttteSl with ^ ispi (masc.
pi.) see Cfr. ffebr. § Y57. 2 ; and on the grammatical form of
fsiXfn,Id. §82. 1.

L.22.b.— &Vi»b b5>^ 13 n^lOrt ^ tniO Mil, i.e. "him, and the
man who kills ; so that it may be ill with them forever." —
The repetition of the pronoun which is the object of the verb
, is emphatic : see Gr. Hebr. § 865. 2. a.

To these notes may be properly appended some brief remarks on
the contents of the inscription. The substance of it, as will have
been seen from the translation given, is a series of direful impreca-
tions against any one who may in any way violate the repose of the
deceased king. But, what is of more importance, it incidentally
adds to our lists of kings of Sidon the names of three in succession,
of one dynasty ; mentions the public works of one of them, and of
his mother ; gives intimations of the mutual relations of the princi-
pal cities of Phoenicia, and of the position of Sidon, in reference to
the others, at the date of the inscription ; and indicates the sort of
government then wielded by the Phoenician kings, showing it to
have been theocratic. The particular gods who were the objects of
worship are also named : Baal and Ashtoreth, the gods of Sidon
and Tyre in the most ancient times of which we have any record
(see 1 Kings 16 : 31, 11 : 33), and Eshmun, a recognized divinity of
the Phoenicians. This inscription also presents a view of the state of

VOL. T. 81

242

the dead, which is of great interest for comparison with the repre-
sentation of Sheol in the Hebrew Scriptures, as, for example, in the
fourteenth chapter of Isaiah. It is important to add, in respect to
the language of the inscription, that it accords with the view now
generally entertained of the Phoenician langauge, that it was nearly
identical with the Hebrew in its words, inflections, and construction.
The connection of the dynasty referred to with personages of Si-
donian history already known, involving the date of the inscription,
is a point of the highest interest, as is apparent, not only in itself,
but because the value of the contents of the inscription depends, in
a great measure, upon its determination. We will, therefore, briefly
state some grounds for the opinion that this inscription belongs to
the latter half of the fourth century before Christ. It is to be ob-
served, that the only Sidonian era, hitherto known to us, is that used
on the autonomous coins of Sidon, which, as already stated, was
coincident with B. C. Ill; and it will be remembered that the nu-
meral signs for the dates on those coins, as also on the coins of
Ptolemais and Marathus which have been preserved, are identical
with the numerals found in the first line of this inscription. One
might be disposed, therefore, to count the year 14 of the inscription
from B.C. Ill, making its date to be B.C. 97. This conclusion,
however, does not force itself upon us, and there are reasons for
believing the inscription to be much more ancient ; so that its era
must be different from that of the coins referred to. A comparison of
this inscription with those collected by Pococke in Cyprus, to which
Gesenius assigns an age not long posterior to Alexander, at the
latest, shows it to be older, paleographically considered, certainly not
more recent, than those. To this is to be added, that one of those
very inscriptions of Cyprus reads 'ini>352UJ(!<'b = To Eshmun'iyed,
giving us the same name as that of the king on whose sarcophagus
the inscription of Sidon appears ; and, considering the well-known
intimate relations between Sidon and Cyprus, it seems not unlikely
that the same person is intended. But this identification is rendered
more plausible by what Diodorus tells us (Sibl. ffist., § 42 ff.) of a
king of Sidon named Ttwyg, cotemporary with Artaxerxes Ochus,
and subordinate to him, who revolted from the Persian king about
B. C. 350. It has been already observed, that the name of the father
of Eshmun'iyed II. of the inscription, rp3in , serves to confirm the
supposed connection between that Greek name and the name of the
goddess nin (n^n). This, so far as it goes, would indicate an
identity between Tennes and the Tabnith of the inscription. Now
Diodorus says that Sidon, in consequence of the revolt under Tennes,
was besieged 'by Artaxerxes, and at length, having fallen into the
hands of the Persians, was set on fire and destroyed by the Sidonians
themselves ; and that Tennes, although he had betrayed his city, was

243

put to death by Artaxerxes. With these circumstances the tenor of
the inscription of Sidon coincides in two important particulars. In
the first place, several lines of this inscription are occupied with an
enumeration of buildings erected, and such buildings as could not
well have been wanting except in consequence of some casualty.
These public works evidently constituted a leading feature of the
reign of Eshmun'iyed II. But Sidon was rebuilt after its destruction
in the time of Artaxerxes, and before Alexander's conquest of Phoe-
nicia ; for the latter, about B. C. 320, found a king reigning there,
supported by Darius, and took the city (see Arrian, Exped. Alex.
ii. 15, 6 ; Q. Curtius, De Rebus Gestis Alex. iv. 1, 15 ft".). In the
next place, the mother of Eshmun'iyed II. is spoken of in the inscrip-
tion as a reigning queen, for it appears that the architectural works
commemorated were executed under her and her son's joint direc-
tion ; which implies that her husband was no longer living. These
coincidences render it quite probable that the father of Eshmun'iyed
II., called Tabuith in the inscription, was no other than the Tennes
of Diodorus. Another consideration, showing the inscription to be
not later than Alexander's conquest of Phoenicia, is its frequent ref-
erence to a confederacy of Phoenician kingdoms, which can scarcely
have existed after Alexander's system of administration over con-
quered countries had been established there.

The question remains, from what era is the inscription dated. In
view of the circumstances which have been alluded to, it seems most
probable that the era of this inscription is the re-building of Sidon
between B. C. 350 and 320 ; and, as it is dated in the year 14, it may
be set down as very near the truth, that it belongs to the latter half
of the generation intervening between the destruction of Sidon in
the time of Artaxerxes and its surrender to Alexander.

We now give place to an independent interpretation by our highly
esteemed co-laborer Mr. Turner.

E. E. 8.

VII. THE SIDON INSCRIPTION, WITH A TRANSLATION AND NOTES.
By WILLIAM W. TURNER.

THIS document is provocative of many remarks palseographical,
philological, historical, and mythological, with which scholars will
doubtless favor the world in due time. I however shall confine
myself almost wholly to contributing my mite towards the reading
and interpretation of the inscription itself, though taking occasion
to add such observations on the topics connected with it as shall
spontaneously suggest themselves.

TEXT.

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246

TRANSLATION.

1. In the month Bui, in the year fourteen, the 13th anniversary of
the king, King Ashmunyyer, king of the Sidonians,

2. son of King Tabnith, king of the Sidonians, spake King Ash-
munyyer, king of the Sidonians, saying :

3. I, son of the molten sea-god, have received a wound from the
hand of Mithumbenel ; I am dead, and am resting in my se-
pulchre and in my grave,

4. in the place which I built. My curse to every kingdom and
to every man : Let him not open my resting-place, and

5. let not a son of liars seek that I destroy a son of liars, and let
him not remove the sepulchre of my resting-place, and let
him not take

6. the fruit of my resting-place [or] the cover of the resting-place
where I sleep. Yea, if men speak to thee, hearken not to
thine enticer. Any kingdom or

7. any man who shall open the cover of my resting-place, or
who shall remove the sepulchre of my resting-place, or who
shall take the fruit of my

8. resting-place, let them not have a resting-place with the shades,
and let him not be buried in a grave, and let them not have
a child, and let it go ill

9. because of them, and let the holy gods terrify them, even the
kingdom with the ruling prince ; wholly cutting

10. them off, even the kingdom or that man who shall open the
cover of my resting-place, or who shall remove

11. my sepulchre. Neith shall know of that matter. Yea, a man
that slayeth they shall have no dwelling in peace. Good is

12. the judgment from on high ! Behold in life, as I was resting
beneath the sun, I, son of the molten sea-god, received a wound

13. from the hand of Mithumbenel ; I, the king, am dead. I Ash-
munyyer, king of the Sidonians, son

14. of King Tabnith, king of the Sidonians, grandson of King Ash-
munyyer, king of the Sidonians, and my mother Emashtoreth,

15. priestess of Ashtoreth, our lady the queen, daughter of King
Imanyyer, king of the Sidonians, behold we built the temple

16. of the gods, the temple of justice, by the sea — and justice is the
support of the stars ! There shall they be worshipped ; and we

17. who have built a temple for the peoples, behold our guilt shall
be diminished thereby, and there shall my children worship.
And we who have built temples

18. to the god of the Sidonians, in Sidon, the land of the sea, a
temple to Baal-Sidon, and a temple to Ashtoreth the glory of
Baal, to us Lord Milcom giyeth a city

247

19. the desire and beauty of the earth, our glorious delight, which
is in the dwelling of our deity, to stretch out the fortresses
which I have made ; and they have been constructed

20. on the border of the land, to strengthen all the Sidonians for
ever. My curse to every kingdom and to every man : Let
him not open my cover,

21. and not remove my cover, and let him not take the fruit of
my resting-place, and not remove the sepulchre of my resting-
place. As for them, those

22. holy gods shall humble them ; and they shall cut off that
kingdom and the man that slayeth, that it may be ill with
them for ever.

NOTES.

Line 1.
bi FITS in the month Bui. What this means is shown in 1 Kings

6, 38, where it is said, irararr UHhn Nlfi Via JTV3 in the

7 . , . _ •.. -:• .

month Bui, that is, the eighth month. The occurrence of the
term Bui in this place seems a sufficient refutation of the idea
that this and some other ancient names applied to months in
the Bible were rather appellatives than ordinary names.

"I03> is the Aramaic form for the Heb. ^iU3> .

/\ /(( f~*. The curved longitudinal stroke signifies 10, and the per-

pendicular strokes are units (Gesen. Monn. Pho3n. p. 85, sqq.)

There are two coins published by Swinton (Philos. Trans. Vol.

4, PI. 31), but omitted by Gesenius, which bear the dates

////// A//V/>V (year CXXVI) and W/W/NM |->V (year CXXVIII).

Under both of them occurs the character A (whose alphabet-
itical value is that of a), of which Swinton offers no explana-
tion. Perhaps it may be a contraction for ^ = Heb. V3
circle, cycle, age, but employed in the sense of annual revolution',
year. In that case we may read "Obsab 5 III — •> the 13th anni-
versary, or year, of my Icing or the king. For this use of the

pronoun, comp. the Heb. ijnN , Syr. ^jio , Fr. monsieur.

Ashmunyyer. On No. lY of the inscriptions found by
Pococke at Citium is the name C^ Af Q 4 U/ V-* ^ ^

which Gesenius reads isSJ-fiattJN Eshmun-yyed (quern Aescu-
lapius restituit) (Monn. Phcen. p. 145). He remarks, however,
that it might also be read "pSSEUitt Eshmuriyyer (quern Aescu-
lapius suscitavif), which likewise yields a good sense ; and this
latter reading is adopted by Movers, who remarks that the

248

name is also found in another inscription of Citium since dis-
covered by the Grecian archaeologist L. Ross (Art. Phoenizier,
in Ersch u. Gruber's Encyclop. p. 424). In the Sidon inscrip-
tion the forms of i and *i are so confounded that, although the
name occurs in it no less than four times (lines 1, 2, 13, 14),
the proper reading cannot be determined from it. Supposing
that the inscription of Ross (which I have not been able to see)
is sufficiently clear to settle the question, I have followed the
reading of Movers. The name ^53T23fit ' Eafnovv, the Phoenician
u*Esculapius (Ges. Monn. Phoen., p. 136), occurs a number of
times alone and in composition on inscriptions of Citium, Car-
thage, Athens, and Marseilles (Ges. 1. c. p. 347, Movers 1. c. p.
396) ; but this is the first time it has been found in Phoenicia
proper.

a King Ashmunyyer. In the titles T^fciBJt ^E ,
ba , ^PSS&^i* "jVa, the appellative ^fift king is placed
before the name of the sovereign, in accordance with the best
Hebrew usage ; but it has not as in Hebrew the article.

Line 2.

i. Perhaps i. q. Heb. rpwin form, image, and hence to be
read Tabnith.

a- thrust, wound, from baa (whence Heb. ^522 a sickle) = Aiah.
to pierce. This and the following words appear again in
lines 12, 13.

Line 3.

I suppose to be employed, like the Pers. u^j^" > which also
means literally to swallow, in the sense of to receive, to suffer, as
Q^_j3- i-J^Xf to suffer torment, QV^JJ- *i to be afflicted; so
that Tisbs nVaa will mean / received (or had inflicted upon
me) a wound. It is difficult to reconcile this form of the 1st
pers. pret. with the Aramaean form n:3 (line 4), n^^D (1. 19),
unless we suppose it to be emphatic.

*7D?3 I at first proposed to read either d^SDQ slielterers, protectors
(Hiph. part, of -7DD), or perhaps better h"^3tt anointed ones
(Hoph. part, of rj03 ), in the sense of the passive of Kal, as in
Ps. 2, 6. So that the phrase ta^O/3 "p would signify the off-
spring or descendant of crowned heads or princes. Both these
readings are however untenable, as they suppose an anomaly
in the orthography of the plural termination, which elsewhere
throughout the inscription is written, in the Phoenician manner,
defectively. The reading adopted assumes '•pfa to be i. q. the
Heb. JiSOE » and to mean a molten idol, a brazen god; and this
may be either Baal (see 2 Chron. 28, 2) or Molech (see Ges.

249

Lex. art. Tjbb). The king may be supposed to call himself the
son of his deity, either as his worshipper or as claiming descent
from him in the style of Oriental sovereigns. As a counterpart
to the expression idol or god of the sea, sea-god, to denote the
god of a people bordering on the sea, we have the term &•> y^N
land of the sea, applied (1. 18) to the Sidonian territory.

At the beginning of line 1 3 in the lithograph is a mark which
resembles b . If it were this letter, it would indicate that here
probably are two nouns in the relation to each other of possessor
and possessed, which relation in the former instance is indicated
by their juxtaposition and in the latter by the prep. V . But
this does not appear to be the case ; for the character differs in
form from the other Lameds, and likewise projects somewhat
beyond the margin of the inscription, so that we are justified
in concluding that it is not a letter at all, but a mere scratch or
flaw in the marble. This conclusion is confirmed by the MS.
copy of the inscription received from Dr. DeForest, which pre-
sents no trace of the character in question.

Here -piS is supposed to be the word *p written with J<

p *
prosthetic, like Syr. \tji\ hand.

• Perhaps the first part of the word is that of the Plau-
tinian name Muthumballes, which, however, Gesenius reads
b^Sintt , and Quatremere V^3 fntt • May not its etymology
be ^r'fa-frp" »jg ?

5ilJl act. part. Kal. In the same sense Is. 14, 18 : all the kings of
'the nations 'irpla UTN *VD3i TS^UJ lie in glory each in his own
house. Comp. too the oft recurring phrase vniitf fii> SStfJ'T
and he slept with his fathers. Gesenius remarks (Monn. Pncen.
p. 438), that the act. part, is always written defectively in Phoe-
nician. It should be observed, however, that both here and in
the plural termination the Phoen. vowel may be a, in which
case no mater lectionis is required.

in my sepulchre. The connexions in which the word nVrt
occurs besides the present instance (lines 5, 1, 11, 21) show
clearly that it signifies a coffin or sarcophagus. Accordingly
we may regard it as meaning literally a hollow vessel, and com-
pare Arab. cjo- a bee-hive, a ship ; B^Ls^ a horse's nose-bag, a
saddle-bag, wallet; from J^> to be empty. Or we may sup-
pose it to mean literally a polished vessel, from the root J-j^n to
polish; which last is singularly suitable to the description of
the sarcophagus by the correspondent of the New York Journal
of Commerce, who says : " The lid is a fine blue-black marble,
intensely hard, and taking a very fine polish."
. v. 32

250

Line 4.

/ built. Whether this is to be considered as written defectively
and pronounced banti, or whether it is to be read in the Ara-
maean manner beneth, it is not easy to say. The former opinion
would seem the most probable from the fact that the verb
"wbs above (if correctly interpreted) follows the Hebrew usage,
as does also the verb siccarthi or sicorathi of Plautus, were it
not that the omission of a sign for I at the end of a word is an
anomaly unknown to the Shemitish languages.

my prohibition or my curse. Buxtorf (Lex. Chald.) explains
the Talmudical word Q3ip as a vow of prohibition, and ^asip
as juramenta, vota cum execrationibus. True, he says tail?' is
corrupted from f i~ip , and if so, it could hardly be a Phoenician
word ; but it is difficult to see how this can be the case, as
"p"^p has a very different meaning.

kingdom. The word also occurs in this form in lines 6, 10,
20, 22, and only once (1. 9) in the form NDbttft ; and this agrees
with the conclusions arrived at by Gesenius and Movers, who
state that the fern, of Phoenician nouns is formed by far the
most frequently in n , seldom er in N , and never in in. Why the
form JO^aa should be used in line 9 I cannot say. rob/353
is probably the true reading on the coins of the two Jubas
(Gesen. Monn. Phcen. PI. 42).

"bi* let him not open. The negative particle "btf, correspond-
ing to the Greek ^ and Lat. ne, is found in Phoenician for the
first time in this inscription, where it occurs repeatedly, bi is
used in the same sense in line 15 of the Marseilles inscription,
sign of the accusative, i. q. Heb. ntt • This form favors Hup-
feld's opinion that nx is from the Aram. rPK , rp i. q. UP . It
agrees too with the Plautinian pronunciation yth.

my resting-place, asuja is used in the sense of bier, coffin,
in Is. 57, 2. 2 Chron. lV, 14. and in the Oxford inscription
(Ges. Monn. Phcen. p. 130).

Line 5.

iatZTiOasaaa tUp^ VN . It is evident that this, however we
may read it, must make a complete sense. The following is
proposed : t33£-fa tr^KS E5?3~f2 uip^"1 VN let not a son of
liars seek that I destroy a son of liars. Here fa is considered
as the act. part, of f sja and i. q. Arab. ^Ls . The opprobrious
term Qia fi applied to whomsoever shall violate the defunct's
tomb is thus opposed to the honorable one of Q^ "p73 fs as-
sumed by himself. The threatened destruction will be through
the curses which follow.

251

S3 D!W b2O and let him not take the fruit of my resting-
place, i. e. my body contained within it. The verb occurs also
in the Marseilles inscription (1. 13), in the phrase (as read by
Movers) blsK DUD DQ2^ WN which one brings before the gods.
It seems that the verb OS3> , like Kto3 , means primarily to lift
or take up, and then to take, to bring. 53 i. q. Heb. 5^3 (3i3
Is. 57, 19 in Cheth.), which is used in a similar figurative man-
ner in Mai. 1, 12, where the food on the Lord's table is called
1^13 its fruit.

Line 6.

• We may derive it from the Aram. bVi> to enter, and consider
it to mean an entrance, opening, door- or from Heb. Jib^ to go
up, to ascend, when it will signify the upper part, top, lid. Either
of these meanings will suit the context, as in each of the subse-
quent instances where it occurs it forms the complement of the
verb fir© to open. On account of the close connexion of the
two languages it appears safer to adopt a Hebrew etymology
when one otters.

"my sleep, from f \Dn , which is repeatedly used in Scripture of the
sleep of death, flence the phrase i3TD !l3tt5ft the resting-place
where I sleep (lit. my resting-place of sleep) is closely analogous
to the Tih3 SDUJft my quiet resting-place of the Oxford inscrip-
tion (Ges. Monn. Phoen. p. 130).

men. To avoid assuming a plural form of this noun, which
is unknown in Hebrew, I at first read "p *\y\ •>£ Q*lN tJJt if any
man should say, Strike ! i. e. break open the tomb ; but the
objections to this are still greater.

ftlN bK ?]N yea, if men speak to thee, scil. urging thee to do
this. In the verb the final Nun of the fut. 3d pers. plur. is re-
tained, as occasionally in Hebrew and regularly in Aramaic ; and
so in bS'-nO-n (1. 9), b33DD^ (1. 19), tm30^ (1. 21), rtaxpl (1. 22).
The only illustration that presents itself of this word is the
Arab. *J^ to sing, which is applied also to the cooing of doves,
the stridulous noise of locusts, the twanging of a bow-string, &c.
It may be considered as the act. part, (with prep, and suff.)
signifying he who sings or mutters to thee, thine enticer. This
seems forced, but it is the best I can do with it.

Line 7.

or; and so in line 10. This use of t3N is found also in the Mar-
seilles inscription. See Movers, Phoen. Texte, H, 110.

Line 8.

ID"1 ^N let them not have. So repeatedly in the Marseilles in-
scription ; comp. especially the phrase QSfisV 1^ ^5 the priests

252

shall not have (1.15). The verb 1>,3 is i. q. the Arab. Q!^,
which means originally to stand, and then to exist, to be, like
Ital. star and Span, estar. See Movers, Phcen. Texte II, 97 ;
Ewald, Jahrbb. der bibl. Wiss. 1, 198 ; and Blau in the Zeitschr.
der D. M. G. Ill, 441.

Line 9.

because of them, i. q. Heb. dJ-pnlin or Dnnp . The a may
be considered as the plural termination retained before a suffix
as in the verbs, or as the Nun demonstrative of the pronoun,
the so-called Nun epenthetic. Comp. Ewald on the &:"Ofi of
the Marseilles inscription, Jahrbb. der bibl. Wiss. p. 201.

and let them terrify them. T^D i. q. Syr. ")-tss> to fear;
Pah., to terrify.

the gods. The Phosn. f^K appears to be the Arab. *Ji ilahon

with the He elided. We have here a gratifying confirmation
of the genuineness of the Plautinian Punic text, this being
clearly the alonim of the Poenulus, on which the scholiast
Sisenna remarks, " alon lingua Punica esse deum ;" although
nearly all interpreters have agreed in transcribing it tT3l1?3> or
fSV'by i. e. most high ones, superi. Comp. Abdalonimus (i53>
fi:bi<) the name of a king of Sidon under Alexander the Great
(Justin xi, 10). This word occurs again in lines 16 and 22,
and in the singular in 1. 18.

a ruling head, i.e. chief, prince; comp. ViZiiTa IB^N,
2 Chron. 7, 18.

with cutting off, abscission. Used to give emphasis to the
following verb.

tJ3nSJp cutting them off (shall be). Infin. of Si22p or f£p with 3
demonstr. and suff., the verb governing the suffix and the follow-
ing nouns in the accusative. I at first assumed here a root
n£p , and supposed the pret. to be used emphatically for the
future.

Line 10.
Nfl SIN that man; and with a fern, noun, itJl ri^fift that thing (1. 11),

that kingdom (1. 22). We have here the primitive
demonstrative Nfl (see Hupfeld in Zeitschr. f. ~K. d. Morgenl. II,
147), which Gesenius finds in the fourth line of the Sardinian
inscription. Its plural ^N , which occurs several times in the
Pentateuch, appears in the expression bit ElCnptl tS^fit those
holy gods (1. 22).

Line 11.

So in the MS. copy of the inscription. The lithograph edi-
tion has viift .

. If it be correct to read this as a proper name, it is probably
that of the goddess Neith (JVr/ftf), the Egyptian Athene wor-
shipped at Sals. (See Plat. Tim., quoted by Parthey in his
Vocab. Copt. p. 567, and Plut. Isis et Osiris, cap. 9). The Egyp-
tian orthography of the name was "££* or ^* or ^ , i. e. NeT
(Is. et Osir., Parthey's edit., p. 176). Gesenius thinks that he
finds the name in certain Athenian and Carthaginian inscrip-
tions under the form n3n Tanith or ta-Neith, the first letter being
the article, and that consequently JVrfid; Tavaing, and stvai'Tig
are but different forms of the same name (see Monn. Phoen.
pp. 115-118, 171, 172) ; but this is left for others to decide.

Whether we regard this as a pret., fut., or part., it is of the
masc. form ; so that the gender of the preceding noun (suppos-
ing it to be feminine) is neglected. Comp. Ges. Monn. Phoen.
p. 216, and Blau in Ztschr. der D. M. G. p. 442.

appears to be i. q. Syr. |l^iai£), Chald. bbfcft , used like <n?ft

in the sense of thing.

that slayeth, part. Hi ph. of rvift to die, with the preformative
!l retained. Judas considers that he has found this form of the
Hiphil in the fut. Jpif!-P (Etude Demonstr. p. 135). The word
naSl£ occurs also with tntfft in line 22. This phrase blNii
n73l"I)a occurs in line 17 of the Marseilles inscription, which
unfortunately is a broken one, so that the sense is left doubtful.
Various explanations of the word FiJiFlft are proposed by Mo-
vers and Ewald ; but neither of them would suit the context of
our inscription.

to them. The change from the singular to the plural and vice
vers& in propositions of a general nature, where the subject is
indeterminate and may be regarded at the will of the writer as
consisting of one or many, is so common in Hebrew that we
feel no surprise at meeting with it here.
dwelling. Supposed to be formed by apocope from SIIT .

T 51B good is the judgment from on high, i. e. from the
places above, the sky, heaven, rfl!w being a fern, used as a neu-
ter. The allusion is to the punishments decreed and executed
by Heaven against the wicked for their misdeeds. We might
also read 11$ m^3>53 from above the sky, taking ^jjtf as i. q. Heb.
*jN vapor, and hence cloud, sky; like Heb. phttj , dust, cloud,
arid then sky, heaven, as in Ps. 89, 7. 38. It must be remarked
however that the MS. copy of the inscription, which in general
appears to be the most entitled to confidence, has bl instead of \i .

254

Line 12.
IN behold, like Arab. 3\ . The same word seems to have stood in

line 17, although the N has disappeared.

£jTQ in life, or among the living, an expression found in several in-
scriptions of Athens and Citiuni (see Ges. Monn. Phoen. p. 349 6).

|H3 "f^iO as I was resting (sleeping?). }fi3 act. part, of tT)3 with
surf. 1 pers. sing, in the Aramaean manner (Hoffm. Gf. Syr. p.
177), which is also used in the Syriac with a preceding pro-
noun (Hoffm. p. 345).

Line 14.

rnnttJSttN Emashtorcth (i. e. mother of Astarte). In line 3 of the Ox-
ford inscription we have also the name of a woman n^niDyn&N
Amatashtoreth (handmaid of Astarte).

Line 15.

n3fO priestess. The masc. fSi3 priest and &3tl3 priests occur re-
peatedly in the Marseilles inscription. Movers shows (Die Phoe-
nizier, III, 512 sq. 547 sq.) that Astarte was the highest national
goddess of the Sidonians, and especially of their ruling race : so
that the high priest of the goddess was the high priest of the
land, and the office was the prerogative of the metropolis and
was filled by the nearest relative of the king.

our lady. The term n2*^ is found repeatedly in inscriptions
applied both to deities and to mortals. See Blau in Ztschr. der
D. M. G. Ill, 434.

Line 16.

i temple of justice. It would appear that among the Phoeni-
cians the temple of worship was used also as a hall of justice,
as among the Hebrews, whose bl"ttft fn rp5 or great court of
justice was held in the temple at Jerusalem.
. Supposed to be i. q. Heb. rrillN, and to mean around, about,
by. I at first read &•» ft 5 N2T rD « temple of justice, a temple
of the sea, i. e. by the sea.

Supposed to be i. q. Heb. in11 peg, and then used figura-
tively, as in Heb. and Arab., in the sense of support. See
Rosenmiiller on Zech. 10, 4, where it stands parallel with Jiss
corner-stone. As for the K prosth., comp. "pit (1. 3, 13) i. q".
Heb. T .

stars' We may suppose this word to be chosen by way of
allusion to the meaning of the name n"iniE3> .

magnified, honored, worshipped • part. Pual of THN . The

Piel part, occurs in the following line.

255

1 . Here we are presented for the first time with the Phoen.
pron. of the 1st pers. plur., which agrees in its termination with
the frequently occurring suffix f . It is used in the nominative
absolute both here and in the following line.

Line 17.

a temple of the peoples. tPJaxb plur. of fc&b , in Hebrew
a poetical term. The meaning seems to be that this is a temple
to which the nations should come to worship (comp. 1 Kings 8,
41-43). Blau thinks that he has found this same noun in the
third line of the Eryx inscription in a contracted form in the
word PTTsbV to her people (Ztschr. der D. M. G. Ill, 441).

• From Vb" to be thin, slight, small; like Syr. ^) .

thereby, in is here taken to be i. q. Chald. Nlirr , Heb. n-TSl.

T T *•*

Buxtorf shows (Lex. Chald. col. 489) that in corresponds in
the Targum to the Heb. nj<T , which is used absolutely without
reference to any particular noun. The meaning will then be
that those who worship in this temple shall in consequence
receive pardon for their sins. Comp^ 1 Kings 8, 30-53.

Line 18.

the land of the sea, i. e. lying on the sea-coast,
lit. the Lord of Sidon; like "ix b?3 the Lord of Tyre, in
the first Maltese inscription.

ni a temple to Ashtoreth. According to Movers (Die
Phoenizier I, 602, 605) a large temple of Astarte in Sidon is
spoken of both by Achilles Tatius and by Lucian.
QttJ the glory (lit. name, renown) of Baal. Baal is the sun, or
king of the heavens, and Astarte the moon, or queen of the
heavens ; hence it appears she is called his glory, his bright and
beautiful counterpart.

ftN Lord Milcom. So fan b#i "pit Lord Baal ffamman,
Numid. inscrr. 1—3. Milcom, or Moloch, in his character of the
Phoenician Mars, is here said to have given the Sidonians their
city ; meaning that they had obtained it originally, or (which is
more probable) that they had recently regained it, from other
possessors by force of arms.

Line 19.

desire, i. q. Heb. l"n . If the context would permit, we might
read ^-3 (in the 0. Test, also written *ypj) Dora, the southern-
most town of the Phoenicians ; and so we might find in this
and the following line the names ma Mara thus and bS3 Gebal.
"'SPI and beauty of the earth. So the Tynans applied to their
city the appellation •'D'' nWs perfect in beauty, or perfectly
beautiful, Ezek. 27, 3 ; comp. 27, 4. 11. 28, 12. 17.

256

f JHPI our glorious delight. We regard 5^n as an abstract
noun formed, by prefixing n, from the Aramaic root $$~\, and
corresponding to the Heb. i"ntt!"l lit. desire, delight] !comp.
the phrase !"nfcft y"^i< • Michaelis quotes the phrase

|.j}oo £x^.j.vr} |-i-» i-r-« pulchra et splendida cedificia (Lex. Syr.

p. 847). If the context permitted, we might translate Tarragon
the great.

££- ttJN which is in the dwelling of our deity, i. e. which is
situated in the land of Phoanicia, the peculiar dwelling-place of
the national god j]Va or &3ba . The MS. copy has "i^Q or "iiaS .
^b to stretch out (or' stretching out) the fortresses, i. e.
enabling us to erect the long line of fortifications.

1DN which I have made, i. e. reared, constructed. So the MS.
copy. The form of the third letter in the lithograph edition
would allow us to read nb^l 1Z5N of which thou art Lord; but
the sense is not so good.

fii'DO'H and they have constructed them, the plur. used impersonally,
i. q. they have been constructed. }cS to cover with boards, and
hence to build, construct.

Line 20.

on, upon. Either a fern. sing, or plur. abstract noun, lit. top,
used as a preposition. See on mb^tJ 1. 12.
border, boundary, Heb. blSS .

to set firm, establish, strengthen, Polel infin. of ^3 . The de-
ceased king claims not only to have assisted in erecting temples
to secure to his people the favor of their gods, but also to have
constructed fortresses to defend them against the assaults of
their human enemies.

, Line 21.

IS^ btfl and let him not remove. li>H fut. apoc. Hiph. of JTi3> .
tb as for them, used absolutely. See Ges. Lex. under b 14. c.
bSIJO"1 shall humble them ; taking the verb as the Piel or Hiphil of
*ttD to fall down, to prostrate oneself. Comp. JiniZJtl . I at
first read bDTiD'1 , as in line 9, supposing that the copyist had
omitted a portion of the third letter, which made it resemble a
. 3 ; but as the reading of the MS. copy supports that of the litho-
graph, it is safer to yield to their joint authority.

Line 22.

Nil nsbtt>3 rtSiSp^l and they shall cut it off, that kingdom. This
pleonastic use of the pronominal suffix before the noun forming
the object of a verb is found in Hebrew (Nord. Heb. Gram. II,
109).

257

CONCLUSION.

The reader who has perused the foregoing attempt at explaining
the inscription will scarcely need to be reminded that in it some
things are certain, others doubtful, and others little better than
guesses. Error and imperfection are the usual fate of first essays of
the sort ; but a beginning must be made, and it will be compara-
tively easy for minds coming fresh to the subject and applied directly
to the doubtful passages to make a nearer approximation to the
truth.

Dr. Movers (Art. Pkonizien in Ersch. u. Gruber's Encyklopsedie, p.
425) divides Phoenician inscriptions, as respects the forms of their
letters, their language, and their age, into two classes. The older, to
which belong those of Marseilles, Carthage, Citium, Malta, Athens, and
most of the coins of Phoenicia and the neighboring regions to the
north, exhibit the old Phoenician type of letters, a regular orthogra-
phy, and a language still free from foreign influences and later de-
generacies. These advantages, especially the graphic ones, are found
in their greatest completeness in the inscription of Marseilles, which
is demonstrably the oldest, belonging to the first half of the 4th cen-
tury B. C., while the monuments of northern Phoenicia and Cilicia
belong to the latter half of this century. The second class of monu-
ments proceed from times and regions where the culture and the
language of the Phoenicians were considerably affected by foreign
elements : these are the so-called Numidian inscriptions, and also
those found in Sardinia and in other Liby-Phcenician countries,
together with the Punic coins, which belong to the Liby-Phcenician
cities on the coast of Africa, to the islands of Cossura and Ivica, and
to several Turditanian cities. In this latter class both the form of
the letters and the orthography are equally degenerate. There is
hardly one of these numerous inscriptions that does not present doubt-
ful characters, and the guttural and vowel letters are confounded
in them in a manner without parallel in the Shemitish languages.

It is to the former class, as was to be expected, that our inscrip-
tion belongs. Its interest is greater both on this account and as
being the first inscription properly so-called that has yet been found
in Phoenicia proper, which had previously furnished only some coins
and an inscribed gem. It is also the longest inscription hitherto
discovered, that of Marseilles — which approaches it the nearest in
the form of its characters, the purity of its language, and its extent —
consisting of but 21 lines and fragments of lines.

The corrupt orthography and style of many of the inscriptions
found in Africa and elsewhere which first attracted the attention of
scholars, together with the inaccurate manner in which they were
copied, and which enhanced the difficulty of reading them correctly,

VOL. v. 33

258

naturally caused the Phoenician language to be regarded as differing
much more widely from the Hebrew than it does in reality ; but the
inscription before us confirms the opinion held since the discovery of
that of Marseilles, that the Phoenician language in its purity, besides
a slight tinge of Aramaism, differs but little from the Biblical He-
brew. This is a gratifying discovery for two reasons : first, becaiise
it facilitates the correct reading and interpretation of the inscriptions
themselves, and secondly because each document in it that is brought
to light will prove a direct contribution towards elucidating the lan-
guage of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The forms of the letters in the Sidon inscription and that of Mar-
seilles are very similar, the principal difference being that, as a general
rule, the characters of the former have a slightly more rounded and
consequently less antique contour. The Min, however, of the former
is always a complete circle ; whereas in the latter it has the modern
characteristic of an opening at the top. In the Sidon inscription the
Yod runs through many different forms, from the oldest to the most
recent ; and the forms of T and ^ , to which is sometimes to be added
U (which in that of Marseilles are accurately distinguished) are
utterly confounded together, so that there is no distinction that holds
between them, either in the form of the head, the degree of inclina-
tion from the perpendicular, or the length of the stem. Our copies
of it are certainly much better executed than those of the generality
of the inscriptions we possess ; yet under the circumstances nothing
but a plaster cast or other fac-simile can be regarded as a satisfactory
basis for a final interpretation of the monument.

The orthography of this as of other Phoenician inscriptions is
characterized by a more systematic omission of the matres lectionis
than is found even in the oldest Hebrew writings.

As for the language of the inscription it bears marks of antiquity
which are obsolescent in the Biblical Hebrew : such as the use in
plain prose of primitive words which in Hebrew are found not at all
or only as poetical archaisms ; the retention of the fern, affbrmative
D , of the 1 of the plural of verbs, and perhaps of the ft pretbrmative
of the Hiphil ; the non-employment of the definite article in repeated
instances where it would be used in Hebrew, &c.

As a contribution to Phoenician history we have the names of the
defunct ruler and his ancestors to the third degree both on the pater-
nal and maternal side, thus :

Ashmunyyer Imanyyer

!. I

Tabnith Emashtoreth

v /

Ashmunyyer.

259

Not only the father and paternal grandfather of the deceased king
are said to have been kings of Sidon, but also his maternal grand-
father. What was the order of succession between them, or indeed
where they are to be placed at all, we have not the means of decid-
ing ; but the ancient form of the characters and the purity of the
language of the inscription (as far as it can be made out with cer-
tainty), with the fact that Sidon appears to have been ruled by native
independent sovereigns (though their independence may be ques-
tioned), induce us to place it before the conquest of Alexander,
namely as early as the middle of the 4th century B. C.

It however by no means follows that because we are now without
the means of answering these questions definitively, we shall always
remain so. The fondness of the Phoenicians for commemorating in
this durable manner public and private events, the fact that no sys-
tematic exploration of the sites of towns in Phoenicia and most of
her colonies has ever been undertaken, the extensive ruins that are
known to exist (above all those of Tyre herself), and the number of
educated men now in northern Africa and the Levant, lead naturally
to the hope and expectation that many more extensive and more
interesting monuments of this people will ere long be discovered than
have yet been brought to light.

VIII. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.

1. From a Letter from Rev. D. T. Stoddard, of Or&miah.

Seir, Oroomiah, Jan. 16, 1864.

Since writing you, I have made a pretty thorough examination of
the Jews' language, as spoken in this vicinity, and have now the
materials for drawing up a paper on that subject. When you see
Dr. Robinson, will you be good enough to consult with him as to
the question whether it is worth while to give the details of that lan-
guage, or only a few outlines of the grammar.

When I shall get time to attend to the subject again is quite un-
certain. Our missionary labors demand most of our strength and
thoughts.

260

2. From a Letter from Rev. D. B. Me Car tee, M. D., of Ningpo.

Ningpo, Feb. 6, 1854.

I had the honor, about a fortnight since, to forward to your care,
by ship, an impression of the "so-called Syrian monument" referred
to by my respected friend the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, D. D., and con-
cerning which certain inquiries were addressed last year by the Ori-
ental Society to missionaries in China. The existence of such a monu-
ment will not, I am sure, be doubted, Avhen one knows that it is well
known to Chinese amateurs in calligraphy, and that copies, or rather
impressions taken from the stone by a species of lithography pecu-
liar to the Chinese, are in ordinary times easily to be obtained from
dealers in copy-books, which are always printed by this method of
lithography. Owing to the disturbed state of the empire at the pres-
ent time, and the distance of Si-ngan-fu in the province of Shen-sl,
from this place, the visits of these travelling dealers in inscriptions,
etc., have been almost entirely prevented, and it was only after some
search and negotiation that I at length succeeded in obtaining two
copies from a Chinese gentleman, who had sent them to a shop in
this city, for the purpose of having them cut into strips and mounted
for binding into books. This has caused the long delay in my an-
swer to the circular of the Society addressed to the Mission of which
I am a member.

On the question as to whether the monument referred to is really
to be attributed to the Syrian or Nestorian Christians who had mis-
sions in China at the time when the inscription professes to have
been executed, viz. A. D. 635, very much has been already written,
as may be seen by reference to the Chinese Repository, vol. xiv. page
201, and the Land of Sinim, by the Rev. W. M. Lowrie, pp. 37-42.
I shall therefore be very brief in what I have to communicate on the
subject. In the first place, the impressions sold (one of which I
sent), and the testimony of the Chinese, would show conclusively that
such a monument is now in existence, even were we to reject the testi-
mony of the early Roman Catholic missionaries, quoted by Kircher
and others. Secondly, it was evidently not got up by the Chinese,
as they would have no object in trying to impose it as a monument
of antiquity upon others ; moreover, it uses terms and speaks of
doctrines with which even those Chinese who are familiar with the
inscription as a specimen of fine writing are unacquainted, and
•which they cannot explain ; and finally, the Syriac characters which
compose part of the inscription seem conclusive. These characters
are mistaken by the Chinese for Man-chu or Mongolian characters,
which indeed they somewhat resemble (being written vertically,
instead of horizontally), although the monument dates back to a

261

period long anterior to the invasion of the Mongols who established
the Yuen dynasty (A. D. 1280). Thirdly, its antiquity, the reli-
gious terms employed, the Syriac letters, and the admissions of the
Jesuit missionaries themselves, forbid the idea that it was invented
by them, and indeed it is hard to see how any one would believe
them guilty of a fraud to commemorate the labors of a sect who
had anticipated them in China, and had been condemned and
anathematized by the Roman Church as heretical. I cannot therefore
resist the conviction that the monument in question does really exist
in the province of Shen-si, and that it is the work of the Nestorian
or Syrian Christians, whose churches and converts still survived in
no inconsiderable numbers in the time of the celebrated Venetian
traveller Marco Polo.

Accompanying the impression from the Syrian monument, I sent
also a copy of another and more modern specimen of Chinese
lithography, viz., a sheet containing a Chinese native tract, which
by a species of pious fraud is attributed to the philosopher Lau-tsz\
the founder of the sect of Tau or Reason. This is one of the
most celebrated religious tracts of the Chinese. To cause it to be
printed, distributed, or read to or by the people, is considered an
act of great merit, capable of atoning for a multitude of sins. The
accompanying impression is a fac-simile of the hand-writing of the
famous Commissioner Lin, who was so energetic in his endeavors to
put down the opium-traffic, and in his warlike measures against the
English. It is a very beautiful specimen of fine writing, and was
engraved from the original in the following manner. The paper
having been laid upon the stone (previously sized with a thin coat of
paste), with the blank side toward the stone and the letters upper-
most, was then smoothly and evenly applied by means of a hard
brush or broom (made of the fibres of the Chinese hemp-palm, Cha-
merops Excelsa). When dry and firmly attached, the letters were
carefully cut into the stone by a seal-engraver, the operation differ-
ing from the ordinary method in the letters being sunk instead of
raised, and not reversed. This allows the engraver to follow very
exactly the strokes, etc., of the writer, executing in fact a very accu-
rate fac-simile. In printing from the stone, the paper slightly
damped is first laid upon the stone, and smoothly applied by means
of the hard brush. The operator then taking a strip of felt in one
hand, and a small wooden hammer in the other, goes over the stone,
applying the felt to each part successively, and hammering upon it
briskly all the time. The paper is thus driven into the depressions
or sunken strokes of the characters, while in the blank spaces it pre-
sents a smooth and even surface. The ink (commonly called in the
U. States India-ink) being rubbed with water to the proper con-
sistence, the operater next proceeds to apply it by drawing or " wip-

262

ing" over the paper a brush made of strips of felt, rolled into the
form of a surgeon's roller (or bandage), ground smooth on one end.
Finally, a polish is given to the surface by stiiking on the ink with a
ball resembling those formerly used by printers in the U. States and
elsewhere, before the invention of elastic rollers. The operation is
done very skillfully, and is decidedly the most beautiful method of
printing practised by the Chinese. The stone used is of a very fine
grain and homogeneous structure, and gives out a clear ringing
sound upon being struck. The color of those that I have seen has
been, of some, greyish, and of others, almost black.

Lest by any accident the copies I sent last month should fail to
reach the Society, I take the opportunity to send duplicates.

It will be seen that the Chinese have only taken an impression of
such parts [of the monument] as were in Chinese characters, omit-
ting the cross, etc., and also the names of the priests, etc., mentioned
by Kircher. There are however two rows of Syriac letters in the
copies sent, one on each side of the Chinese, and near the bottom ;
which being in a line with the Chinese name of the author of the
inscription and of the copyist, could not be omitted, and were there-
fore preserved.* It is also to be observed that in the Chinese Re-
pository it is said that there are 26 characters in a column, which is
an evident typographical error for 62.

3. From a Letter from Rev. A. H. Wright, M.D., of Orumiah.

Oroomiah, July 22, 1854.

A few days ago, I returned from a journey across the mountains of
Koordistan. .... On the way, both in going and returning,
I visited that celebrated pillar, with cuneiform inscriptions, on the
top of the mountain between Ooshnu and Ravandooz. The stone is
about 2 yards long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot thick, and is of a dark
green color. Hence its name in Koordish, Kel-e-Sheen, green stone.
It stands in an upright position, one end being inserted in a large
square stone, partly in the ground, and cut for the purpose. It faces
E. S. E. Both sides are covered with inscriptions, the most distinct
being on the southern face. I counted 40 lines on one side, and 42
on the other. My Koordish guides would not allow me to examine
this interesting relic of a former age but a few minutes, apprehend-
ing an attack of robbers, Avho infest that locality.

I visited another stone with similar inscriptions near the village of
Sidek, five or six hours South- West of the one above named. It is

* These Syriac lines, containing the date, are precisely the same as given by
Kircher on the Bides of his plate. The characters are evidently Estranghelo.

K. E. «.

263

of smaller dimensions than the other, and is of a dark grey color.
It faces in the same direction. Dr. Grant supposed there were
inscriptions only on the South-East face of the stone, but it is my
impression that they existed originally on both sides, and that they
have been defaced from the northern side by the ravages of time.
I thought that I discovered traces of the letters on that side, though,
as I passed the spot at the early dawn, I ought not to be very confi-
dent. The stone appeared to be of a softer texture than the one on
the top of the mountain. These ancient relics carried me back in
thought thousands of years, and I felt an inexpressible desire to read
the lesson of history written upon them. An impression of Kel-e-
Sheen was taken two years ago by a learned Russian gentleman, Mr.
Khanikoff of Tiflis, now acting Consul at Tabreez, on porous paper.
This is now in the hands of Col. Rawlinson of Bagdad, who, it is
hoped, will be able to decipher its meaning.

P. S. — Kel is used in Koordish for a stone set up on end, as in a
grave-yard. Hence Kel-e-Sheen means a green upright stone.

4. From Letters from Rev. L. Gfrout, S. Africa.

Umsunduzi, May 27, 1854.

From the S. African Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible
Society I have just received (as member of the Zulu Grammar and
Dictionary Commission), through the local Government, a copy of
the following queries respecting the difference between the Kafir and
Zulu dialects, etc., with a view to their ascertaining what means can
be devised for assisting the missionaries of different Societies in the
work of translating and circulating the Scriptures among the natives
of S. Africa.

"1. Is there that degree of affinity between the Kafir and Zulu, as
would warrant the hope that one standard version of the Scriptures,
with occasional dialectic variations, either to be introduced into the
text of two separate editions (one for the Kafirs and the other for the
Zulus), or to be inserted in the margin of one edition, would meet
both languages or dialects ?"

The preparation of a Zulu grammar, which I still have in hand,
progresses slowly, partly from sickness of late in my family, and
partly from want of assurance, as yet, from Government, that they
will provide the means for printing both that and the dictionary.

But I design to go on with the preparation of the grammar to
the best of my time and ability ; and I make the above remarks

264

partly to open the way for inquiring of you whether there is, proba-
bly, in your Society (A. 0. S.), or in any other in our country, as
the Smithsonian Institution, or elsewhere, any such interest in such
a thing as a Zulu grammar, as would induce them to publish one
at their own expense, if properly prepared and offered ?

Umsunduzi, Sept. 12, 1854.

I wrote you last May, among other things, in respect to a circular
from the S. Afr. Aux. Bible Soc., naming, I think, the queries then
proposed. After examining the subject, and discussing it with my
brethren of the Mission, and of the Zulu Grammar and Dictionary
Commission, our conclusion was that the plan of a uniform version
of the Scriptures for the Kafir and Zulu dialects is not, at present,
practicable.

In comparing a late edition of the Psalms in Kafir with our late
edition in Zulu, I found, on an average, one principal or notional
word to a verse in Kafir, not known in Zulu, or else known in a sense
quite different from what it has in Kafir, as appears from the trans-
lation. I also found, further, that about half the essential or notional
words actually used in the two editions — the Kafir and Zulu — differ,
while the other half are the same : that is, when the best words are
taken in the two dialects, respectively, about one half are naturally
the same, and the other half different.

I see by the last papers that a meeting — " Alphabetical Confer-
ence " — has been held in England, at the house of Chev. Bunsen, to
"devise a uniform system of expressing foreign alphabets by Roman
characters." I shall be interested to know the result A uniform
version can never be had in the Zulu and Kafir, without a uniform
alphabet ; but the latter may be had, and would be of much service,
without the former.

5. From a Letter from Rev. A. Bushnell^ in Equatorial Africa.

Nengengnge Olombo Mpolo, July 26, 1854.

I have commenced a new station on a small island at the junction
of the Nkarua and Bakwe, the two head-streams of the Gaboon,
about seventy-five miles from its mouth. There is but one town, with
a small population, on the island ; but within ten miles there are
more than thirty towns, inhabited by people of three different tribes,
viz : Shekanies, Bakeles and Pangwes. These tribes have descended
from the interior one after another, as they are named. The She-
kanies followed the Mpongwes, and rank next to them in civilization

265

and influence. The Bakeles followed the Shekanies, and are a
grade behind them ; and after them come the Pangwes, who have
but recently appeared. They are a very numerous and warlike peo-
ple, independent and fearless, and a terror to their more civilized
neighbors, with whom they are beginning to mingle. They are
larger in stature, and better formed, and of a shade lighter com-
plexion, than the other tribes. They wear but little clothing, but
cover their persons with a preparation of powdered red-wood and
oil, which gives them the appearance of red men at a short distance.
They manufacture, from their native ore, beautiful and well- tempered
instruments, such as knives, daggers, or two-edged swords, and spears ;
and in war they use them with great dexterity. They also use the
cross-bow and poisoned arrows. They are cannibals, but their appe-
tite for human flesh and blood is only gratified on prisoners taken
or killed in war, and persons accused of some crime. Their ideas of
spiritual things nearly resemble those of the other tribes, being ex-
ceedingly gross and indefinite. Superstition seems to be a part of
their mental constitution. They manufacture and wear on their per-
sons numerous charms, or fetiches, as a protection from evil, and to
secure them earthly good ; but none of them have any reference to
the soul, or to a future state.

Respecting their [the Pangwes] language, I can state nothing
definite. It differs materially from the other dialects used nearer the
sea, but, having a knowledge of them, we think it may be acquired
readily. At no distant day I hope to forward you specimens of it.

6. From Letters from, Rev. Dr. J. Perkins, of Orumiah.

Oroomiah, March 9, 1864.

You may be aware that, a few years ago, the king of Persia built
a college, the edifices costing about one hundred thousand dollars,
to be furnished with European professors. Of the six or seven Ger-
man professors connected with it, two have recently died — another
loss to the cause of science and civilization in Persia. This college
has made a very hopeful beginning in the work of introducing
European light into this country. While the practical sciences occupy
a prominent place in its course of study, it also does much for the
advancement of literature and general intelligence.

Oroomiah, July 28, 1854
/ of other matter to commi
of my continued

In the paucity of other matter to communicate, and to assure you
r continued interest in your Society, I send you below an extract

266

from a letter which I recently received from Mr. Loftus, of whose
labors, among the Assyrian and Babylonian remains, you are of
course always glad to hear. The letter is dated Mosul, June 10, 1854.

" I have just returned from an expedition to Lower Chaldea, where
I have again visited Warka and the 'Ur of the Chaldees,' as well
as various adjoining mounds. The results are interesting, as records
have been obtained as early as the time of Abraham, or about 2000
B.C.

" This evening, I float down the Tigris to Nimroud, where we have
just discovered the first inscribed and sculptured slabs of the palace
of Phul of Scripture — the husband of the once almost fabulous
Semiramis.

" Enclosed I send a circular of the Society, which may be inter-
esting to you and your circle."

I enclose the circular which Mr. Loftus sent to me, and which
possibly may not reach you from any other source.

[From this circular of the Society for Exploring the Ruins of As-
syria and Babylonia, we make the following extracts.

COMM. OF PUBL.]

" It would appear, from a statement by Mr. Layard, that, since the
publication of his second work, remains have been found of a much
earlier period than any previously taken from the Assyrian mounds.
From one inscription it would even seem that temples existed of the
19th or 20th century before Christ, ascending almost to the earliest
known Egyptian period. The annals of those Assyrian kings who
are mentioned in Scripture, and who are closely connected with the
Jewish people, have not yet been fully completed, and the chronicles
of the wars with Samaria and of the destruction of that city are, as
yet, unfortunately not entire, although reference to them has been
met with on several fragments. ....

"Besides the ruins of Assyria, enormous remains exist in Baby-
lonia which have scarcely been visited by Europeans, and which
there is every reason to conclude contain objects of the very highest
interest. .......

" A photographist will accompany the Expedition, and will take
copies of all objects of interest discovered. In England facsimiles
of all the drawings and inscriptions will be issued, as often as they
come to hand, together with explanatory letter-press, the publication
of which Mr. Layard has kindly undertaken to superintend.

" It will be less the object of the Expedition to obtain bulky sculp-
tures than to collect materials for completing the history of Assyria
and Babylonia, especially as connected with Scripture. These mate-

267

rials consist chiefly of inscribed tablets in stone and in clay, bronzes,
bricks and sculptured monuments of various kinds, all illustrating
the remarkable advancement of that ancient civilization. It is con-
fidently believed that the whole history of Assyria may be restored
to a very early period, and that discoveries of the most important
character will be made in connection with the literature and science
of the Assyrian people."

Oroomiah, March 8, 1856.

Dr. Wright, whose missionary duties lie more directly with the
Mohammedans of Persia than my own, is prosecuting inquiries re-
specting the Royal College at Tehran, and Persian schools there and
elsewhere ; and he will be happy to write you on these subjects,
when he shall have obtained the information desired. Such matters
are not to be accomplished with rail-road, nor electro-magnetic,
speed, in this truly oriental land.

I have just received a letter from Dr. Lobdell, of Mosul, who re-
cently visited Baghdad. In the absence of more interesting matter,
I will take the liberty to send you brief extracts from his letter.
The letter is dated Baghdad, Jan. 18, 1855, in which he says : "I
take pleasure in making application to you, in behalf of Prof. Peter-
mann, of the University of Berlin, for any historical Nestorian or
Armenian MSS. (or translations in these languages from the Greek
or other tongues), which it may be in your power to procure at

Oroomiah He has been in the South of Persia

the last summer, with Mr. Briihl, going from Bushire to Shiraz,
Isfahan, Hamadan and Yezd, and has procured some scores of MSS.,
a large lot of Parthian and Sassanian coins, and some two hundred
cylinders and seals — a part of them bearing fine Babylonian inscrip-
tions. He will return to Europe, via Aleppo, in the spring.

7. From Letters from the late Rev. H. Lobdell, M.D., of Mosul.

Mostil, Mesopotamia, Sept. 25, 1854.

It gives me pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
May 20th, informing me of my election as a corresponding member
of the Oriental Society. It will be my endeavor to furnish for your
Journal an occasional communication.

I have but just finished an account of my tour in Kurdistan, via
Arbeel, to the monument of Kel-i-sheen, which will probably be
longer in reaching you than this letter, as it will go from Constan-
tinople by ship.

268

If Prof. Gibbs has shown you my letter to him of January last,*
you are aware that the excavations in Koyunjik were prosecuted
vigorously, and with much success, at the beginning of the year.
It is hardly necessary that I should enter into further details in regard
to the palace discovered by Col. Rawlinson's agent, as he has given
some account of the discoveries to the Trustees of the British Mu-
seum, and a few extracts have appeared in the first Report of the
Excavation Fund of the Assyrian Society, which, I doubt not, you
have seen. Mr. Wm. Kennett Loftus, the superintendent of exca-
vations for that Society, has this morning shown me some sixty
drawings which he will send by to-day's post, through Lord Strat-
ford de Redcliffe, to London. They embrace views of most of the
discoveries made by him at and near Werka, an immense mound
about three days below Baghdad, formerly supposed, by Rawlinson
and some others, to be the site of Ur of the Chaldees. A cylinder
recently found by Mr. Taylor, British Vice-Consul at Busrah, at
Mugeir, a mound twenty-five miles West of the Euphrates, having
on it the name Hur, has shaken the faith of these antiquarians in
regard to the site of Ur ; and it seems, indeed, to upset many pre-
vious speculations about the ruins in that quarter. It remains to be
seen, however, whether the cylinder has been correctly interpreted !

The walls of little cones, the sarcophagi and their contents, rings,
beads, neck and head ornaments, the bricks inscribed with cuneiform
characters, the Egyptian relics from a mound called Phara, and the
views of the ruins, are of great interest, as the mounds in that part
of Babylonia have been, as yet, but very imperfectly explored.
While some of the remains are evidently Sassanian, Mr. Loftus is
confident of the very extreme antiquity of others. That some of the
inscriptions are of the most primitive Babylonian character, is plain
to any one who has compared the writings of different eras.

The remainder of the drawings, which I have mentioned, are
mostly photographic and crayon sketches of slabs in the palace of
Asr-akh-pul, the son of Esarhaddon, at Koyunjik, which were not
copied by the artist of the British Museum, in consequence of sick-
ness which necessitated his return to England.

Mr. Loftus has found several more rooms in what is now called the
North palace, and a few of the present drawings represent the char-
acter of the sculptures on their walls. A few of the slabs are most
exquisitely finished ; the figures have a bolder relief than any hitherto
discovered. The good and evil geniuses, the monstrous combina-
tions of man, eagle and lion, at the doorways, are not less interest-
ing than the lion-hunt in boats, the chase of ibexes and wild asses
by archers and spearmen on high-spirited steeds, and by the king in

* Published in this Journal, voL iv. no. 2, pp. 472, ff.

COMM. OF PUBL.

269

his chariot, the siege and capture of a town with sable inhabitants
(thought by Mr. L. to be Abyssinians), the ornamented pavements,
the immense brick wall, fourteen feet thick, around the palace, and
the subterranean construction of the apartments, which forcibly sug-
gests the idea of its correspondence with the serdab, or modern sum-
mer retreat, of the people of Mosul and Baghdad.

It was the intention of Mr. Loftus to proceed to Susa the coming-
winter, but his great success here — and, I may add, at Nimroud,
where several statues, one of them bearing a peculiar cuneiform in-
scription said to glorify Semiramis, have recently been exhumed —
will probably induce him to remain.

The Assyrian Society and the British Museum present now the
aspect of rivals, instead of mutual assistants, though it is hardly to
be doubted that all the objects discovered by both will eventually
form one great collection.

As I have seen in some American papers and periodicals the state-
ment that Col. Rawlinson professes to have found evidence, in his
researches, affecting the authenticity of the Hebrew Scriptures, I take
the liberty of transcribing a few words from a letter which I have
recently received from him.

He says : " The Assyrian and Babylonian records confirm in the
most satisfactory manner all the genuine portions of Scripture his-
tory, while at the same time they afford positive evidence that the
book of Daniel is not genuine — that, in fact, it should have been
left by the Christian Church in the Hagiographa, where, as you
know, it has been ever held by the Jews."

I leave you to infer his opinion about the question what are the
genuine portions of Scripture. Are none of the Hagiographa parts
of the Jewish Canon ? I suspect the antiquarian has trespassed too
far on the province of the Biblical critic.*

Mosul, Nov. 2, 1854.

Accompanying this letter you will find an article which you are
at liberty to use as you may think will be most for the interests of
the Oriental Society. As you suggested, in your letter of Nov. 23,
1853, I have given "special prominence" to those parts of the tour,
or Observations,! in which I have not been anticipated " by any one
of our countrymen." I feel that the paper has assumed an undue
length, but it will be easy for the Comm. of Publication to draw a
pencil over those parts of it which it may seem to them undesirable
to have published.

* It is lately reported that Rawlinson has found the name of Belshazzar in
one of his cuneiform inscriptions. E. E. s.

•f " Observations on a ride through Kurdistan, from Mosul to the Monument
of Kel-i-Shin," is the title of Dr. Lobdell's commuuication. Extracts from it
will appear in our next Number. COMM. OF PUBL.

270

I know of no work which particularly describes the region from
Ooshnoo to Mosul, except Ainsworth's Travels in Asia Minor, which
is full of mistakes. I have not, however, spoken very particularly of
that part of my route which he passed over. He did not see Kel-i-
Shin, and I was not on his track at all West of the Herir hills.
Rev. Dr. Perkins's route was the same as mine but part of one day,
yet his Journal, as published by the Society, was so full that in some
points he may seem to discuss the same topics. I have endeavored
to make my description of Ravenduz supplementary to his.

I believe the route from Arbeel to Herlr has never been travelled
by any Frank but myself, and it may be that the full report of the
relations of the Kurds and Chaldeans of Sheikh Sana will not be
devoid of interest. ......

The table of the Pashas who have governed Mosul for the last two
hundred and seventy years has perhaps more of local than of general
interest. About one hundred and fifty years ago, the son of 'Abd el-
Jelil, a Nestorian, became a Moslem, and rose to the dignity of Pasha.
The table will show with what difficulty the office was kept in his
family till the time of the resolute, but bloody, Mohammed Pasha — a
Turk — who subdued the rival parties in the city, and restored order.

In a small box are enclosed five coins — one of Alexander the Great,
one of Philip,* a Pehlavian, a Cufic, and a singular coin which I
cannot make out. The long beard seems to be dressed up as care-
fully as those of the Nineveh sculptures : if within your power, will
you please give me a version of the inscription ; and also a transla-
tion of the Pehlavian, which has a head like Shapur's, and an altar
between two priests ? f With the coins is a reddish Assyrian cylin-
der, having a brief inscription upon it ; the figure upon the stone
is very rare.J

I should be glad to present these to the Society, but if they have
no collection of coins, or stones, you will please accept them yourself.

* The Seleucide Philip, son of Antiochus VIIL

K. E. s.

f The coin which Dr. Lobdell did not make out, belongs to a Parthian king
named Bolagasus, as appears by examining it with the aid of Pellerin and
Eckhel. It bears the date AST. or 464, to be computed from the era of the
Greeks, making it equivalent to A. D. 153. The Pehlvi coin was rightly con-
jectured by Dr. L. to be the coin of a Sapor. It belongs to Sapor I., and has
the legends usually found upon his coins : see, for example, Mordtmann in
Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellschaft, Bd. viii. p. 36. The Kufic coin be-
longs to the Ommeide Khalif Walid Ben 'Abd-el-Malek, as the date, A. H. 90,
shows ; it was struck at Wasit The legends on it are the same as on similar
coins, as described, for example, by Marsden in his Numismata Orientalia, Pt. L

E. E. S.

± Described above, p. 192.

COMM. OF PCBL.

271

8. From a Letter from Rev. E. Webb, of Dindigal, India.

Dindigal, October 12. 1854.

The American missionaries in Madura, having received from your
Society several Numbers of its valuable Journal, have requested me
to express their thanks to you for the same, and to assure you of the
interest they take in the objects of the Society, and of their entire
confidence in its plan and direction.

It is our desire to render what assistance we may be able. We
are none of us, however, familiarly acquainted with more than one
of the languages of India, viz. that of the people among whom we
labor ; and respecting that you have already received much valuable
information through our highly esteemed fellow laborer Rev. H. R.
Hoisington.

For a few months past, I have been much interested in some re-
searches I am making into the construction of the poetry most fre-
quently used in the Tamil drama. It differs essentially from those
forms in which the classical literature of the people is composed.
These are all explained, and definite rules for their construction are
given, in the native and European grammars of the language. But
the lyric poetry, as it may be called, though often extremely ryth-
mical, and elaborate in its construction, has received no attention
from Tamil grammarians, and all that can be ascertained about it
must be by a careful analysis of the compositions themselves ; for
though there are many learned men at the present time who com-
pose them, they are utterly unable to explain the principles or rules
of their own compositions. The entire Ramayanam is translated
into this kind of poetry, and in this form is sung every where
thiough the country, accompanied at all times with music and
dancing.

My attention has also been turned to the vocal music of the Tamil
people.

I have been led to examine these subjects from the apparent un-
suitableness of European tunes to the Tamil taste, and the inappro-
priateness of European metres to the Tamil language, for until re-
cently English tunes and metres have been adopted and exclusively
used by all Protestant missionaries hi the religious worship of their
Tamil converts.

A selection of hymns in native metres, set to native tunes, has
recently been made and printed by us, which are learned and sung
with great pleasure by our Christians. I hope it may be in my
power ere long to give you the result of the investigations I have
made on these subjects.

272

0. from a Letter from Rev. Dr. E. Smith, of Beirut.

Bhamdun, Oct. 12, 1854.

I .... was made very sad when I read the . . . sentence in
which you intimate an apprehension that I do not feel an interest in
your Society. That you should entertain such an apprehension, is
not surprising, nor do I blame you for it. But I am pained that
you should think of me that which is directly the opposite of what
is true, without my having in my power to correct your impressions.

A missionary's calling exposes him to an endless

variety of distractions, which, when he becomes an elder member
of a Mission, accumulate to an extent which a stranger can hardly
conceive of. In the midst of all this, I am endeavoring to carry on
a literary work which requires the best energies of a mind free
from distraction, in the vigor of life.* Were I to judge from the
past, I might well despair of aiding you at all ; and yet I am unwil-
ling to give up the hope.

I am sorry to say that last winter our Societyf did nothing. The
Greeks and Roman Catholics succeeded in exciting a sectarian spirit
against it, and each established a rival Society, which drew off our
members who belonged to those communions. My own health, too,
was more than usually delicate, and forbade my devoting any of my
strength to it. In these circumstances we have published no other
Number of our Transactions.

I have had for my nearest neighbor, during the summer, Dr. A.
Sprenger, Principal of the Calcutta Medreseh, and Secretary of the
Oriental Society of Bengal. He is engaged in making a descriptive
catalogue of all the Persian, Arabic and Hindustani books he can
find, and making a bibliographical dictionary. While here, he has
examined more than four hundred MSS. in our libraries, including
that of our Society. Among them he found a considerable number
of rare and curious interest ; and some of special interest in refer-
ence to the life of Mohammed, which he is also engaged in writing.
Some of these MSS. ought to be edited. One, some six hundred
years old, which I found in the hands of a Druze, is a most careful
philological examination of pieces of ante-islamic poetry, out of the
second or third century of the Mohammedan era. Another is a col-
lection of ante-islamic traditions, filled with poetry, and some of the

* It is well known that Dr. Smith is in the midst of the great work of re-
translating the Scriptures into Arabic.

COMM. OF PUBL.

f See this Journal, vol. iii. p. 477. ,

COMM. OF FUEL.

pieces almost worthy to be called epics ; at least such was my im-
pression, when I read the book more than twenty years ago. How
I should love to take hold of some of these works, if I had not
more important matters on hand !

10. From a Letter from Rev. F. Mason, Missionary in Burmah.

Newton Centre, Nov. 30, 1854.

The great divisions of the Buddhist Scriptures in Burmah are the
same as in Nepal, as described in your Journal, Vol. i. No. 3, page
275, ff.

The Abhidhanna, with us, is a treatise on ontology. The speci-
men given by you from Burnouf, on page 287, is not from the Ab-
hidharma itself, but from the commentary. I have never read the
exact words you give, but they may probably exist in some of the
books.

The sacred books exist : (1) in the Pali text ; (2) in Pali with a
Burmese translation word for word throughout, like the translations
we find appended to the modern editions of the Eton Latin Grammar,
as : " est there is, pro for, habeo I have ;" (3) in commentary on the
text, consisting of stories, manifestly of a later date than the text
itself, and written by a different hand, or by other hands. I think
there have been several, just as we have various commentators on
the Bible.

When I left Burmah, I put up the palm-leaf volumes of the
Abhidharma No. 2. as above, with a few fragments of No. 3. The
Pali text No. 1. I tried in vain to obtain. It is exceedingly difficult
to obtain any but the most common books, mainly stories, in Bur-
mah ; and as great numbers of palm-leaf books were destroyed and
scattered by the . . . English soldiers during the last war, they will
be still more scarce hereafter.

11. from, a Letter from Prof. C. Lassen, of Bonn.

Bonn, 20th January, 1855.

The kind interest you have always taken in my labors, makes me
hope that you will be glad to learn that I have finished the 1st Part
of the Illd Volume of my Indische Alterthumskunde, the printing
of which I hope soon to be able to begin.

VOL. v. 35

274

SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.

Japanese Botany, being a Facsimile of a Japanese Book, with Intro-
ductory Notes and Translations. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Phila-
delphia. 72 pp. sm. 4to.

THIS publication came to hand too late to be noticed in the proper
place, but is one of so rare interest that it must not be passed with-
out at least an announcement.

It may be regarded as the first fruits of the late U. States Expedi-
tion to Japan, under Commodore Perry. The editor, Dr. Joseph
Wilson, Jr., U. S. N., a member of that Expedition, has taken the
pains to have reproduced, by the anastatic process of lithography, a
botanical work brought by him from Japan, accompanying it with a
specimen-translation, and some introductory and explanatory notes.
The original work consists of drawings of various flowering plants,
which are executed with much taste and truth to nature, and not
without regard to perspective, accompanied with descriptions in
which the peculiarities of the leaves, flowers and stalks, and the
times of blooming, etc., are noted. The reproduction appears to be
admirably exact, so that in examining it one seems to have under
his eye a genuine Japanese book. The translation, too, has evi-
dently been made with much care, though the translator modestly
observes that " it is not supposed that the proper meaning of the
elliptical sentences has always been found." Dr. Wilson refers to aid
received from native dictionaries, as well as Medhurst's Vocabulary,
and a Comparative Vocabulary of the Chinese, Corean and Japanese
Languages published at Batavia in 1835.

The work before us is a very valuable illustration of what the
anastatic process is capable of in the way of multiplying copies of
works which could not be printed among us, or perhaps even in
Europe, at present, in the ordinary mode, for want of proper types.
In itself considered, too, it will interest the student of natural science
who is curious to learn how far the Japanese have advanced in
botanical knowledge. But, as regards this latter point, it is to be
regretted that Dr. Wilson did not translate the whole. Perhaps he
will yet do so, before the stones upon which the transfers were made
are appropriated to other uses.

E, E, S»

ARTICLE II.

THE NESTOEIAN TABLET

SE-GAN FOO,

MR. A. WYLIE.

(Reprinted from the North China Herald.)

VOL. v. 86

fHE NESTORIAN TABLET OF SE-GAN FOO.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION.

" THE genuineness of the so-called Nestorian Monument of Singan-
Fu" was made the subject of a communication to the American
Oriental Society by Prof. E. E. Salisbury, offered October 14, 1852,
and published in the Society's Journal, Vol. III. pp. 401 etc. Far-
ther light respecting the monument seeming highly desirable, the
Society subsequently passed a resolution, requesting the American
Missionaries in China to take such measures as might be found prac-
ticable, for having the stone revisited and described, and for obtain-
ing new fac-similes of the whole inscription. This resolution was
communicated to the various Missions through Dr. Bridgman, and, as
was hoped, has not failed to produce valuable results. Two litho-
graphic impressions from the face of the monument itself have been
sent from China, and deposited in the Library of the Society : a
letter of Dr. McCartee, accompanying one of them, has been given
on a former page of the Journal (see above, p. 260). And during
the month of August of this year, Prof. Salisbury received from Dr.
Bridgman, at Shanghai, a copy of an essay on the subject of the
genuineness of the monument, with a letter of which the following
is a part, " A copy of your paper on the Syrian monument I
placed in the hands of my friend Mr. A. Wylie, and expressed a
hope that he, being interested in the question, would follow it up ;
he has done so, and published what he wrote in the North China
Herald ; and herewith I send you a copy thereof."

This essay has seemed to be so very valuable and interesting a
contribution to our knowledge of the subject, to discuss so thor-
oughly and with such a fullness of learning, and to place in so clear
a light, the evidences in favor of the genuineness of the monument
derivable from a study of its characters and its contents, that we
have thought we could not do those interested in the matter a
greater service than by republishing it entire. In the North China

278

Herald it will be accessible to but very few indeed of scholars in the
West ; and there would appear to be a peculiar propriety in its
being farther made known through the medium of the Journal
from whose pages was derived the immediate incitement to its com-
position. If we are not mistaken, it will go far to settle for ever the
question which it discusses ; and to establish the authenticity of a
document of high interest for the history of the extension of Chris-
tianity through Asia in early times. The learned world will be
grateful to Mr. Wylie for his able assistance in putting an end to the
doubts which have long been felt respecting this document, and will
also, we trust, thank us for helping to extend the knowledge of his
investigations and their results.

In the original essay, the Chinese characters are given, along with
a transcription of them into Roman letters, for all names, titles, and
brief sentences, cited from the inscription. These characters are
necessarily omitted in the reprint, but the author's transcription is
faithfully presented.

Dr. Bridgman's letter accompanying the essay farther says, " A
few days ago" (the letter is dated March 10, 1856), "I met an Ital-
ian, a Romanist, who had seen and examined the stone, while de-
tained in the neighborhood of Si-ngan fu" ; but it does not speak of
any information derived from him with regard to it. An impression
of the Syriac inscription at the foot of the Chinese is wanting on
both the copies sent to the Society ; it would be interesting to know
whether the former is, as conjectured by Mr. Wylie, upon a different
facing of the stone ; and also, of course, to have a new and accurate
fac-simile impression of it likewise.

MORE than two centuries have now passed away, since
the Jesuit fathers announced to the world the discovery of
a marble tablet in 1625, recording the establishment of the
Christian religion in China during the Tang dynasty (7th
and 8th centuries). This was said to have been discovered
by the Chinese, while digging for the foundation of a house,
at a village not far distant from the city of Se-gan. The
first foreigner who saw it after its exhumation was Alvarez
Semedo, who gives the following account in his Eelatione
della Grande Monarchia della Cina.* " Three years after-
wards, in the year 1628, some fathers entered this province

* Not having the original of this work at hand, we quote from Kirch«r's
China Illustrata.

279

by favor of a Christian Mandarin, named Phillip, who was
going into that quarter. The same fathers obtained (by favor
and authority of this same Mandarin) the privilege of erect-
ing a house, and building a Church for practising the exer-
cises of our religion, in the Metropolitan city of Se-gan foo ;
where God, by his infinite mercy, has been pleased to exhibit
a memento so authentic of the submission of this country
to his law, in order thus to employ it anew, and by that
means facilitate the worship of his name, and the introduc-
tion of his gospel. I was permitted to be one of the first
to inhabit this dwelling ; in which I considered myself for-
tunate, because I had the opportunity of going to see the
stone ; which I went to visit as soon as I arrived, without
caring for anything else. I have seen and read it, re-read
and considered it, at leisure and in quietness ; in fine, I ex-
amined it so attentively, that I could not restrain my admi-
ration of its antiquity, and my astonishment at seeing the
characters, so visible, so clean, and so well engraved, that
one might have said they were but just formed. There are
several Chinese characters on the thickness, containing the
names of several Bishops and Priests of that period ; there
are also some other characters, which, up to the present
time, no one has been able to explain ; for they are neither
Greek nor Hebrew ; and which nevertheless (in my opinion)
signify nothing else than the same names ; so that these
different characters are used merely to make known to trav-
ellers and foreigners, that which the commonly used charac-
ters make known to the people of China. After this, tak-
ing a journey by Cochin, I arrived at Cranganor, which is
the residence of the Archbishop of the coast, where I con-
sulted the Father Anthony Fernandez of our company on
this matter ; because he is very clever respecting the letters
that have been used since the time of the Apostle Thomas,
and he told me they were Syriac characters ; for they were
most in use at that time." Martin Martini, Michel Boime,
and others of the time, followed with testimony to the same
effect. The high coloring, however, which some of that
fraternity had been in the habit of giving to matters of
which they treated, raised a natural suspicion among many
against every statement which emanated from them. That
these suspicions were in many instances, if not unfounded,
at least allowed to reach an undue magnitude, subsequent
events have clearly proved.' Under such circumstances it is

280

not surprising that scepticism was on the alert, and that,
from various motives, ingenuity was exercised to detect
some deception, or to hit upon some means of nullifying
the testimony in favor of this discovery. Among the most
talented opponents were Bishop Home, Spizelius, LaCroze,
and Voltaire. Most writers on China since their time have
noticed this monument, at greater or less length. It is to
be regretted, however, that from the conflicting statements
which have been set forth, some of our greatest church his-
torians have been left in doubt on the subject, and the ques-
tion having been recently revived among the savans in
America, E. E. Salisbury, Professor of Arabic and Sanskrit
in Yale College, U. S., has issued a paper commencing
with the startling statement of his opinion "that the Nesto-
rian monument is now generally regarded by the learned as
a forgery." This may form our apology for a few remarks,
which we shall preface with a translation of this famous in-
scription, differing in some respects from those that have
been hitherto given.

Tablet eulogizing the propagation of the Illustrious Religion in
China, with a preface ; composed by King-tsing, a priest of the
Syrian Church.

Behold the unchangeably true and invisible, who existed through
all eternity without origin ; the far-seeing perfect intelligence, whose
mysterious existence is everlasting; operating on primordial sub-
stance he created the universe, being more excellent than all holy
intelligences, inasmuch as he is the source of all that is honorable.
This is our eternal true lord God, triune and mysterious in substance.
He appointed the cross as the means for determining the four cardi-
nal points, he moved the original spirit, and produced the two prin-
ciples of nature ; the sombre void was changed, and heaven and
earth were opened out ; the sun and moon revolved, and day and
night commenced; having perfected all inferior objects, he then
made the first man ; upon him he bestowed an excellent disposition,
giving him in charge the government of all created beings ; man,
acting out the original principles of his nature, was pure and unos-
tentatious; his unsullied and expansive mind was free from the
least inordinate desire ; until Satan introduced the seeds of false-
hood, to deteriorate his purity of principle ; the opening thus com-
menced in his virtue gradually enlarged, and by this crevice in his
nature was obscured and rendered vicious ; hence three hundred and
sixty-five sects followed each other in continuous track, inventing
every species of doctrinal complexity ; while some pointed to mate-

281

rial objects as the source of their faith, others reduced all to vacancy,
even to the annihilation of the two primeval principles ; some sought
to call down blessings by prayers and supplications, while others by
an assumption of excellence held themselves up as superior to their
fellows ; their intellects and thoughts continually wavering, their
minds and affections incessantly on the move, they never obtained
their vast desires, but being exhausted and distressed they revolved
in their own heated atmosphere ; till by an accumulation of obscu-
rity they lost their path, and after long groping in darkness they
were unable to return. Thereupon, our Trinity being divided in
nature, the illustrious and honorable Messiah, veiling his true dig-
nity, appeared in the world as a man ; angelic powers promulgated
the glad tidings, a virgin gave birth to the Holy One in Syria ; a
bright star announced the felicitous event, and Persians observing
the splendor came to present tribute ; the ancient dispensation, as
declared by the twenty-four holy men, was then fulfilled, and he
laid down great principles for the government of families and king-
doms ; he established the new religion of the silent operation of the
pure spirit of the Triune, he rendered virtue subservient to direct
faith ; he fixed the extent of the eight boundaries, thus completing
the truth and freeing it from dross ; he opened the gate of the three
constant principles, introducing life and destroying death ; he sus-
pended the bright sun to invade the chambers of darkness, and the
falsehoods of the devil were thereupon defeated ; he set in motion
the vessel of mercy by which to ascend to the bright mansions,
whereupon rational beings were then released ; having thus com-
pleted the manifestation of his power, in clear day he ascended to
his true station. Twenty-seven sacred books have been left, which
disseminate intelligence by unfolding the original transforming prin-
ciples. By the rule for admission, it is the custom to apply the water
of baptism, to wash away all superficial show, and to cleanse and pu-
rify the neophytes. As a seal, they hold the cross, whose influence
is reflected in . every direction, uniting all without distinction. As
they strike the wood, the fame of their benevolence is diffused
abroad ; worshiping towards the east, they hasten on the way to
life and glory ; they preserve the beard 'to symbolize their outward
actions, they shave the crown to indicate the absence of inward
affections ; they do not keep slaves, but put noble and mean all on
an equality ; they do not amass wealth, but cast all their property
into the common stock ; they fast, in order to perfect themselves by
self-inspection ; they submit to restraints, in order to strengthen
themselves by silent watchfulness; seven times a day they have
worship and praise, for the benefit of the living and the dead ; once
in seven days they sacrifice, to cleanse the heart and return to purity.
It is difficult to find a name to express the excellence of the true
and unchangeable doctrine ; but as its meritorious operations are

282

manifestly displayed, by accommodation it is named the Illustrious
Religion. Now without holy men, principles cannot become ex-
panded ; without principles, holy men cannot become magnified ; but
with holy men and right principles, united as the two parts of a
signet, the world becomes civilized and enlightened.

In the time of the accomplished emperor Tae-tsung, the illustrious
and magnificent founder of the dynasty, among the enlightened and
holy men who arrived, was the Most-virtuous Alopun, from the
country of Syria. Observing the azure clouds, he bore the true
sacred books ; beholding the direction of the winds, he braved diffi-
culties and dangers. In the year A. D. 635, he arrived at Chang-
gan ; the Emperor sent his prime minister, Duke Fang Heuen-ling ;
Avho, carrying the official staff to the west border, conducted his
guest into the interior ; the sacred books were translated in the im-
perial library, the sovereign investigated the subject in his private
apartments ; when becoming deeply impressed with the rectitude
and truth of the religion, he gave special orders for its dissemina-
tion. In the seventh month of the year A. D. 638, the following
imperial proclamation was issued :

" Right principles have no invariable name, holy men have no in-
variable station ; instruction is established in accordance with the
locality, with the object of benefiting the people at large. The
Greatly-virtuous Alopun, of the kingdom of Syria, has brought his
sacred books and images from that distant part, and has presented
them at our chief capital. Having examined the principles of this
religion, we find them to be purely excellent and natural ; investi-
gating its originating source, we find it has taken its rise from the
establishment of important truths ; its ritual is free from perplexing
expressions, its principles will survive when the frame-work is forgot ;
it is beneficial to all creatures, it is advantageous to mankind. Let
it be published throughout the empire, and let the proper authority
build a Syrian church in the capital in the E-ning Way, which shall
be governed by twenty-one priests. When the virtue of the Chow
dynasty declined, the rider on the azure ox ascended to the west ;
the principles of the great Tang becoming resplendent, the Illustri-
ous breezes have come to fan the east."

Orders were then issued to the authorities to have a true portrait
of the emperor taken ; when it was transferred to the wall of the
church, the dazzling splendor of the celestial visage irradiated the
Illustrious portals. The sacred traces emitted a felicitous influence,
and shed a perpetual splendor over the holy precincts. According
to the Illustrated Memoir of the Western Regions, and the historical
books of the Han and Wei dynasties, the kingdom of Syria reaches
south to the Coral Sea ; on the north it joins the Gem Mountains ;
on the west it extends towards the borders of the immortals and the
flowery forests ; on the east it lies open to the violent winds and

283

tideless waters. The country produces fire-proof cloth, life-restoring
incense, bright moon-pearls, and night-lustre gems. Brigands and
robbers are unknown, but the people enjoy happiness and peace.
None but illustrious laws prevail ; none but the virtuous are raised
to sovereign power. The land is broad and ample, and its literary
productions are perspicuous and clear.

The emperor Kaou-tsung respectfully succeeded his ancestor, and
was still more beneficent towards the institution of truth. In every
province, he caused Illustrious churches to be erected, and ratified
the honor conferred upon Alopun ; making him the great conserva-
tor of doctrine for the preservation of the state. While this doc-
trine pervaded every channel, the state became enriched, and tran-
quility abounded. Every city was full of churches, and the royal
family enjoyed lustre and happiness. In the year A. D. 699, the
Buddhists, gaining power, raised their voices in the eastern metrop-
olis; in the year A. D. 713, some low fellows excited ridicule, and
spread slanders in the western capital. At that time there was the
chief priest Lo-han, the Greatly-virtuous Kie-leih, and others of no-
ble estate from the golden regions, lofty minded priests, having aban-
doned all worldly interests ; who unitedly maintained the grand
principles, and preserved them entire to the end.

The high-principled emperor Heuen-tsung caused the Prince of
Ning and others, five princes in all, personally to visit the felicitous
edifice ; he established the place of worship ; he restored the conse-
crated timbers which had been temporarily thrown down ; and re-
erected the sacred stones which for a time had been desecrated.

In 742, orders were given to the great general .Kaou Leih-sze, to
send the five sacred portraits (of the Tang emperors) and have them
placed in the church, and a gift of a hundred pieces of silk accom-
panied these pictures of intelligence. Although the dragon's beard
was then remote, their bows and swords were still within reach ;
while the solar horns sent forth their rays, the celestial visages seemed
close at hand.

In 744, the priest Keih-ho in the kingdom of Syria, looking to-
wards the star (of China), was attracted by its transforming influ-
ence, and observing the sun (i. e. emperor), came to pay court to the
most honorable. The emperor commanded the priest Lo-han, the
priest Poo-lun, and others, seven in all, together with the Greatly-
virtuous Keih-ho, to perform a service of merit in the Hing-king
palace. Thereupon the emperor composed mottos for the sides of
the church, and the tablets were graced with the royal inscriptions ;
the accumulated gems emitted their effulgence, while their sparkling
brightness vied with the ruby clouds ; the transcripts of intelligence
suspended in the void shot forth their rays as reflected by the sun ;
the bountiful gifts exceeded the height of the southern hills ; the

VOL. v. 37

284

bedewing favors were deep as the eastern sea. Nothing is beyond
the range of right principle, and what is permissible may be iden-
tified ; nothing is beyond the power of the holy man, and that
which is practicable may be related.

The accomplished and enlightened emperor Suh-tsung rebuilt the
Illustrious churches in Ling-woo and four other places ; great bene-
fits wrere conferred, and felicity began to increase ; great munificence
was displayed, and the imperial state became established.

The accomplished and military emperor Tae-tsung magnified the
sacred succession, and honored the latent principle of nature ; always,
on the incarnation-day, he bestowed celestial incense ; and ordered
the performance of a service of merit ; he distributed of the impe-
rial viands, in order to shed a glory on the Illustrious congregation.
Heaven is munificent in the dissemination of blessings, whereby the
benefits of life are extended ; the holy man embodies the original
principle of virtue, whence he is able to counteract noxious influences.

Our sacred and sagelike, accomplished and military emperor Keen-
chung appointed the eight branches of government, according to
which he advanced or degraded the intelligent and dull ; he opened
up the nine categories, by means of which he renovated the illustri-
ous decrees ; his transforming influence pervaded the most abstruse
principles, while openness of heart distinguished his devotions. Thus,
by correct and enlarged purity of principle, and undeviating consist-
ency in sympathy with others ; by extended commiseration, rescuing
multitudes from misery, while disseminating blessings on all around,
the cultivation of our doctrine gained a grand basis, and by gradual
advances its influence was diffused. If the winds and rains are sea-
sonable, the world will be at rest ; men will be guided by principle,
inferior objects will be pure ; the living will be at ease, and the dead
will rejoice ; the thoughts w7ill produce their appropriate response,
the affections will be free, and the eyes will be sincere ; such is the
laudable condition which we of the Illustrious religion are laboring
to attain.

Our great benefactor, the Imperially-conferred-purple-gown priest
E-sze, titular Great Statesman of the Banqueting-house, Associated
Secondary Military Commissioner for the Northern Region, and Ex-
amination-Palace Overseer, was naturally mild and graciously dis-
posed ; his mind susceptible of sound doctrine, he was diligent in
the performance ; from the distant city of Rajagriha he came to
visit China ; his principles more lofty than those of the three dynas-
ties, his practice was perfect in every department ; at first he applied
himself to duties pertaining to the palace, eventually his name was
inscribed on the military roll. When the Duke Koh Tsze-e, second-
ary minister of state, and prince of Fuu-yang, at first conducted the
military in the northern region, the emperor Suh-tsung made him

285

(E-sze) his attendant on his travels ; although he was a private cham-
berlain, he assumed no distinction on the march ; he was as claws
and teeth to the duke, and in rousing the military he was as ears
and eyes ; he distributed the wealth conferred upon him, not accu-
mulating treasure for his private use ; he made offerings of the jew-
elry which had been given by imperial favor, he spread out a golden
carpet for devotion ; now he repaired the old churches, anon he in-
creased the number of religious establishments; he honored and
decorated the various edifices, till they resembled the plumage of the
pheasant in its flight; moreover, practising the discipline of the
Illustrious religion, he distributed his riches in deeds of benevolence ;
every year he assembled those in the sacred office from four churches,
and respectfully engaged them for fifty days in purification and prep-
aration ; the naked came and were clothed ; the sick were attended
to and restored ; the dead were buried in repose ; even among the
most pure and self-denying of the Buddhists, such excellence was
never heard of; the white-clad members of the Illustrious congre-
gation, now considering these men, have desired to engrave a broad
tablet in order to set forth a eulogy of their magnanimous deeds.

ODE.

The true Lord is without origin,

Profound, invisible, and unchangeable ;

With power and capacity to perfect and transform,

He raised up the earth and established the heavens.

Divided in nature, he entered the world,
To save and to help without bounds ;
The sun arose, and darkness was dispelled,
All bearing witness to his true original.

The glorious and resplendent, accomplished emperor,
Whose principles embraced those of preceding monarchs,
Taking advantage of the occasion, suppressed turbulence ;
Heaven was spread out and the earth was enlarged.

When the pure, bright Illustrious religion

Was introduced to our Tang dynasty,

The Scriptures were translated, and churches built.

And the vessel set in motion for the living and the dead ;

Every kind of blessing was then obtained,

And all the kingdoms enjoyed a state of peace.

When Kaou-tsung succeeded to his ancestral estate,
He rebuilt the edifices of purity ;

286

Palaces of concord, large and light,
Covered the length and breadth of the land.

The true doctrine was clearly announced,

Overseers of the church were appointed in due form ;

The people enjoyed happiness and peace,

While all creatures were exempt from calamity and distress.

When Heuen-tsung commenced his sacred career,

He applied himself to the cultivation of truth and rectitude ;

His imperial tablets shot forth their effulgence,

And the celestial writings mutually reflected their splendors.

The imperial domain was rich and luxuriant,
While the whole land rendered exalted homage ;
Every business was flourishing throughout,
And the people all enjoyed prosperity.

Then came Suh-teung, who commenced anew,
And celestial dignity marked the imperial movements ;
Sacred as the moon's unsullied expanse,
While feh'city was wafted like nocturnal gales.

Happiness reverted to the imperial household,
The autumnal influences were long removed ;
Ebullitions were allayed, and risings suppressed,
And thus our dynasty was firmly built up.

Tae-tsung the filial and just

Combined in virtue with heaven and earth ;

By his liberal bequests the living were satisfied,

And property formed the channel of imparting succor.

By fragrant mementos he rewarded the meritorious,
With benevolence he dispensed his donations ;
The solar concave appeared in dignity,
And the lunar retreat was decorated to extreme.

When Keen-chung succeeded to the throne,
He began by the cultivation of intelligent virtue ;
His military vigilance extended to the four seas,
And his accomplished purity influenced all lands.

His light penetrated the secrecies of men,

And to him the diversities of objects were seen as in a mirror ;

287

He shed a vivifying influence through the whole realm of nature,
And all outer nations took him for example.

The true doctrine how expansive !
Its responses are minute ;
How difficult to name it !
To elucidate the three in one.

The sovereign has the power to act !
While the ministers record ;
We raise this noble monument !
To the praise of great felicity.

This was erected in the 2nd year of Keen-chung, of the Tang
dynasty (A. D. 781), on the 7th day of 1st month, being Sunday.

Written by Lew Sew-yen, Secretary to Council, formerly Military
Superintendent for Tae-chow ; while the Bishop Ning-shoo had the
charge of the congregations of the Illustrious in the east.

The above translation has been made with the assistance
of two fac-simile impressions taken from the stone. The
two lines of Syriac, of which the following is a transcript,
are in the Estrangelo character, and run down the right and
left sides of the Chinese respectively :

Adam Kasiso Vicur-apiskupo va Papasi de Zinstan.

Beyumi aba dabahotha Mar Hana Jesua katholika patriarchis.

Kircher translates this as follows :

" Adam, Deacon, Vicar-episcopal and Pope of China.
In the time of the Father of Fathers, the Lord John Joshua,
the Universal Patriarch."

Having been unable to procure an impression of the
Syriac at the foot, as it appears to be on a different facing
of the stone, we give the transcript here on the authority of
Kircher :

Besanath alf utisaain vtarten diavanoie. Mor Jibuzad ICasiso
Vcurapiskupo de Cumdan medinah malcutho bar nihh napso Mills
Kasiso dmen Balehh medintho Tahhurstan Akim Lucho hono
Papa dictabon beh medabarnutho dpharukan Vcaruzuthon dabhain
daluat malche dizinio.

288

" In the year of the Greeks one thousand and ninety-two, the
Lord Jazedbuzid, Priest and Vicar-episcopal of Cumdan the royal
city, son of the enlightened Mailas, Priest of Balach a city of Tur-
kestan, set up this tablet, whereon is inscribed the Dispensation of
our Redeemer, and the preaching of the apostolic missionaries to the
king of China."

After this, in Chinese characters is " The Priest Ling-
paou." Then follows :

Adam meschamschono Bar Jidbuzad Curapiskupo.

Mar Sargis ICasiso, Vcurapiskupo.

Sabar Jesua Kasiso.

Gabriel Kasiso Varcodiakun, Vrisch medintko de Cumdan vdasrag.

"Adam the Deacon, son of Jazedbuzid, Vicar-episcopal.
The Lord Sergius, Priest and Vicar-episcopal.
Sabar Jesus, Priest.

Gabriel, Priest, Archdeacon, and Ecclesiarch of Cumdan and
Sarag."

The following subscription is appended in Chinese :

"Assistant Examiner: the High Statesman of the Sacred rites,
the Imperially-conferred-purple-gown Chief Presbyter and Priest
Ye-le."

On the left hand edge are the Syriac 'names of sixty-seven
priests, and sixty-one are given in Chinese.

In summing up the evidence pro and con for the genuine-
ness of this tablet, Professor Salisbury remarks "that there
is no intrinsic improbability in the account of the discovery ;
but, inasmuch as it is not known that any one has pretended
to have seen the original monument during the last two
centuries, and as the state of preservation of the inscription,
and the condition of the tablet, might prove an important
source of inference as to its being genuine, it is essential to
a full belief in the story, that the monument be seen by
some disinterested person at the present day." It makes very-
little for the argument one way or the other, that we have
no notice of its having been seen by a foreigner for two
centuries, considering we have never heard of any foreigner
having visited the locality during the period stated. Should
a visit to the spot indicated prove a failure in discovering
its existence, suspicion would in that case be well

289

But although no foreigner may have seen it of late, we have
abundant evidence that it has been seen, read, examined,
and criticised by natives in no way prejudiced in favor of
the religion it professes to make known, fully competent
and thoroughly disposed to detect any indication of fraud,
did such exist ; but although they have made fac-similes,
although they have printed, published and republished it
again and again, although they speak of the extravagant
boasting of its contents, although they charge the authors
with hypocrisy and deceit, and take occasion from it to
launch forth invectives not only against the sect it com-
memorates, but also against the Christian religion in every
form, and more generally against all foreign religions what-
ever, yet we never find the least trace of suspicion as to the
existence of the stone, or the veracity of the date it bears.

For the present we pass over the testimony to be derived
from various publications in the Chinese language, which
have been issued both by foreign missionaries and by their
native converts ; although considering that they have thrown
the weight of their character into the scale, that they were
men not likely to be deceived in the matter, and that, in
the promulgation of their own faith, they have endeavored
to give force to their arguments by illustrations drawn from
this monument, in their appeals to a people who had the
best possible means of judging of its authenticity, and who,
under the supposition of forgery, most assuredly would not
have failed to bring home to them with merited retribution
the consequences of the imposture they were thus using
their influence to establish ; — in the face of these facts, we
think their evidence cannot be lightly set aside, under the
assumption that they were interested parties. We will
however cite another class of witnesses, who must be en-
tirely free from any imputation of this kind.

The Kin shih wan isze he, Record of the Characters of
Metal and Stone Inscriptions, published by Koo Yen- woo,
a native of Kwan-shan, at the commencement of the present
dynasty, and republished in Shanghae in 1824, on the 25th
page of the 4th vol., notices the " Tablet commemorating
the propagation of the Illustrious religion in China ; com-
posed by the priest King-tsing ; written in the square char-
acter, by Lew Sew-yen ; set up in the 1st month of the year
781 ; now in the Kin-shing monastery, outside the city of

290

Se-gan foo." The 6tli volume, which contains a long cata-
logue of uncommon forms of characters on inscriptions,
again notices the Syrian tablet, as containing — instead
of tsan "effulgence," in the sentence, "the bright gems
emitted their effulgence." The preceding character was
used in former times with this same meaning, though it has
long been abandoned in the ordinary literature of the day.
Examples of this kind are exceedingly numerous in Chi-
nese, but it is only scholars of considerable standing who
have sufficient knowledge of the koo wan (ancient literature)
to enable them to apply such words with due effect, and this
it is which commands the admiration of the literati to a
great extent.

The Kwan chung Kin shih ke, Kecord of the Metal and
Stone inscriptions of Sheu-si, published by Pieh Yuen of
Chin-yang, President of the Board of War, about A. D.
1780, on the 8th page of the 4th volume, has a notice of the
" Tablet commemorating the propagation of the Syrian Illus-
trious religion in China; erected in the 1st month of the
year 781 ; the inscriptions composed by the priest King-
tsing; written in the square character by Lew Sew-yen,
with a heading ; in the Tsung-shing monastery, at Se-gan-
foo." After about half a page of digression on the geogra-
phy of " Ta-tsin" (which we have translated Syria) of the
tablet, it proceeds to identify the first church of this sect
in China, with a church recorded in the Topography of
Chang-gan, to have been built in the E-ning Way, A. D.
639, the priest of which is named A-lo-sze, which the writer
remarks is merely an error of the author of the Topogra-

phy, and should be the same as A-lo-pun of the tablet.

In the Kin shih luh poo, Supplementary Eecord of Metal
and Stone Inscriptions, published by Ye Yih-paou Kew-
lae, a native of Kwan-shan, A. D. 1790, are the following
remarks on this stone: "This tablet states that 'the tablet
eulogizing the propagation of the Illustrious religion in
China, with the preface, was composed by King-tsing, a
priest of the Syrian church ;' again : ' The tablet was erected
in the 2nd year of Keen-chung (A. D. 781) on the 7th day
of 1st month, being Sunday. Written by Lew Sew-yen,
Secretary to the Court Council, formerly Military Superin-
tendent for Tae-chow.' At the foot and on the edges are
foreign characters. At the foot is inscribed ' Assistant Ex-

291

aminer : the High Statesman of the Sacred rites, the Im-
perially-conferred-purple-gown Chief Presbyter and Priest
Ye-cha.'* [This stone tablet was examined and set up by
the Priest Hing-tung.]f These words are interspersed with
the foreign characters ; which characters are all turned to-
wards the left, and are untranslatable. I take the ' Triune
and mysterious in substance, the eternal true Lord Aloho' of
the tablet, to be the lord of that religion. ' The most virtu-
ous Alopun, from the country of Syria, arrived at Chang-
gan in the year A. D. 635 ; afcd a Syrian church was built
in the capital, in the B-ning Way, to be governed by twen-
ty-one priests, in A. D. 688.' This shows that the Roman
Catholic religion was introduced into China from the com-
mencement of the Tang dynasty, and up to the present time
it has become disseminated through the whole empire. I
read in the Account of the Western Eegions, that Fuh-lin,
the ancient Ta-tsin, borders on the Western sea, distant
from -'the capital of China forty thousand le. It carries on
a commerce with Siam, Cochin-china, and the Five Indies.
In the flourishing period of Kae-yuen (713 — 742) there was
a rush of Western foreigners, who came from a distance of
ten thousand Ze, eagerly presented the sacred books of their
various nations, which were received into the Palace for the
Translation of Classics, and thereupon the religions of for-
eign regions became practised in China. Then the number
of their priests could be estimated by the number of tem-
ples erected. At that time there were 5,358 temples, 75,024

* This book and several other of the authorities quoted here, give this name
Ye-cha, but Kircher gives Ye-le, and in a very carefully executed impression
from the stone, which we have recently procured in Shanghae, a manuscript
note at the end, written many years ago, gives it Ye-le, which we presume to
be the more correct.

f The line here enclosed in brackets is not given at all in Kircher's copy,
but, as it exactly coincides with the manuscript note referred to above, there
is every reason to believe it correct. It will appear out of order here for the
Assistant Examiner to be placed before the Chief Examiner, but this may be
explained by the fact that the Chinese immediately follows the Syriac, and is
intended doubtless to be read in the same order, i. e. from left to right ; but
the Chinese copyists, not being aware of this fact, would take the right hand
line for the commencement, in the usual way. This is not a groundless con-
jecture, for it is well known that in the Manchu and Mongolian books printed in
China, where there is occasion to introduce Chinese quotations, these are

Erinted contrary to the usual Chinese form, the lines succeeding each other from
}ft to right, in accommodation to the Tartar mode.
VOL. v. 38

292

priests, and 50,576 nuns ; there was a censor appointed to
take account of the priests and nuns belonging to the two
capitals ; if any of the priests or nuns remained out of their
temples at night, it was noted in a register ; they were not
allowed to lodge among the people for more than three
nights ; if any did not return to their locality for nine years,
their names were recorded in a book, and they were treated
with great severity. Now the erection of a temple in the
empire is a rare occurrence, but priests and nuns have be-
come innumerable."

In the Sze koo tseen shoo te yaou, Important Selections
from the Books in the Imperial Library, a compilation
drawn up by order of the emperor Kien-lung, and published
about the year 1790, a work which occupied several years in
the completion, a number of the chief ministers having been
engaged on it, we read as folios, " ' Summary of Western
Learning, in one volume, with an Appendix in one chapter,
on the Tang tablet of the Syrian church.' This tablet states
that in the year A. D. 639, Alopun, of the kingdom of Syria,
brought his sacred books and images from that distant part,
and presented them at the chief capital, when orders were
given by the emperor to build a Syrian church in the E-ning
Way, to be governed by twenty-one priests, &c." The edi-
tors then go on to quote a number of historical incidents,
which show a great amount of research into the national an-
tiquities, with a view to identify the religion spoken of in the
tablet, and which in some instances are anything but natter-
ing to the adherents of that religion. These we shall notice
on a subsequent page. At the conclusion of their remarks
on the subject, they say, " Since Julius Aloni, in writing this
book, has adduced the Tang tablet as a testimony in his fa-
vor, this still further removes any doubt as to his being of
the Heen* religion. But no one has yet traced out by proofs
from antiquity the origin of its propagation, and hence it
has spread all over the breadth of the land. From the time
of Wan-leih (1573-1620), scholars and great statesmen have
in general limited their discourses to the doctrine of the
heart, and merely issued works of a metaphysical character,
on subjects which only embrace the life of the individual ;

* This is the name of an ancient religion in China, which the writers en-
deavor to identify with the religion of the tablet, and also with the Roman
Catholic religion.

293

therefore they have not investigated antiquity to discover
the evidence of facts, by which they might put a stop to
the propagation of these depraved discourses."

The Kin shih isuy peen, Collection of Metal and Stone In-
scriptions, was published by Dr. Wang Gae, Great Statesman
of the Banqueting-house, and Vice-president of the Board of
Punishments, in 1805, when he had reached the advanced
age of eighty-two. This work contains about a thousand
inscriptions taken from existing monuments of various ages,
from the Hea dynasty (B. C. 2200) down to the end of the
Sung (A. D. 1264). The 102nd volume commences with the
Syrian monument, the discussion of which occupies more
than thirteen leaves. After giving the size of the stone, and
the number of lines and characters on it, a transcript of the
Chinese part on the face is given entire. From the critical
remarks which succeed, we select the following, which is an
extract from the Lae Tsae Kin shih kih Tcaou leo, Brief Ex-
amination of Stone and Metal Engravings, by Lae Tsae.
" To the west of the city of Se-gan, where now stands the
Kin-shing monastery, in the time of Tsung-ching (1628-
1644)* of the Ming dynasty, Tsow Tsing:ching of Tsin-ling,
Prefect of Se-gan, had a little boy named Hoa-seng, who
was endowed with extraordinary acuteness at his birth;
from the first he was able to walk, and soon began to join
his hands in supplication to Buddha, which he continued to
do almost without relaxation day and night ; in a short time
he was taken sick ; with his eyes scarcely open, he peered
out sideways laughing, and then went to his long home.
The spot chosen by divination for his burial, was to the
south of the Tsung-jin monastery in Chang-gan. When
they had dug to the depth of several feet, the excavators
came upon a stone, which happened to be the Tablet of the
Propagation of the Illustrious Religion.f This tablet, hav-

* There is an error here as to the date, which is at least three years too late.

f This incident is alluded to in a manifesto by Michel Boime, published in
Kircher's China lllustrata, although he gives a somewhat different version of
the story ; he says, " The Governor of this place having been informed of
the discovery of a marble so rare, and a monument so precious, pressed by a
movement of curiosity, and perhaps also because he had lost a child the same
day, proceeded to the spot, caused a book to be written to the praise of this
Illustrious stone, and caused this treasure to be removed (after he had taken
a faithful copy upon a similar marble), into the temple of the Tauist priests,
which is distant about a mile from the walls of Si-ngan-foo, the metropolis of
the kingdom ; in order to give to posterity an eternal memento, and to prevent
future ages from being deprived of so great a boon."

294

ing been imbedded in the earth for a thousand years, and
now for the first time re-discovered, shows the natural suc-
cession of cause and effect throughout the three generations
(i. e. past, present and future). This child, having been one
of the pure unshaven ones, returned again ; thus the ' pleas-
ant habitation awaiting Chin Pin,' and ' Yang Ming remain-
ing till the opening of the door ' have been shown to be no
idle sayings. See the Lew Yew-hoa Tseih, Miscellany of
Lew Yew-hoa, of Pin-yang. The characters are in the first
style of art, without the least defect. The foot and the ends
have foreign characters on them, similar to those in tfre
Buddhist classics." Here we see that the author of this ex-
tract, either intentionally or otherwise, ignores all allusion
to the Christian religion on the tablet, bringing it forward
as a link in the evidence in favor of the metempsychosis,
supposing this child in a former state to have been one of
the pure and disinterested priests commemorated in the tab-
let. But whatever may have been his theory on this point,
his evidence is equallv applicable to our purpose, in showing
the existence and authenticity of the stone in question.

Further on is an extract from Tseen yen tang Kin shih wan
po wei, The Tseen-yen Hall Appendices to the Metal and
Stone Literature, by Tseen Ta-hin, Attendant on the Impe-
rial Household in the time of Kea-king, a native of Kea-
ting. Speaking of this tablet, he says, " The Illustrious re-
ligion is the religion established by the people of Syria in
the western regions." Again : " There is only this tablet
that bears record of the Illustrious religion, and hands down
any particulars respecting it ; according to which, it com-
menced from the beginning of the Tang dynasty, when Alo-
pun the Syrian priest, bearing the sacred books and images,
arrived at Chang-gan. Tae-tsung ordered the authorities to
build a Syrian church in the E-ning Way, to be governed
by twenty-one priests. In the time of Kaou-tsung, Alopun
was honored with the appointment of Great Conservator of
Doctrine for the Preservation of the State, and orders were
given as before for the erection of Illustrious churches in
every province. The priests all shaved the crown of their
heads, and preserved their beards. Seven times a day they
had worship and praise ; once in seven days they offered
sacrifice. The image they honored was the Triune, myste-
rious in substance, eternal, true Lord Aloho (God). Now if

295

we trace back to the year of the birth of Jesus the Lord of
Heaven, who is worshipped by Europeans, it ought to be in
the period Kae-hwang (518-631) of the Suy dynasty. Some
say this is the ancient religion of Syria ; whether such be
the case or not, I have not examined. At the end it says,
' Erected on the 7th day of the 1st month, being Ta-yaou-
san-wan day ;' Ta~yaou*san-wan, which it speaks of, is an
expression belonging to that religion. The fire-proof cloth
is a cloth that can be cleansed by fire." It is strange that
an author like this, who has shown himself so acute by his
other works, and especially in matters of chronology, should
have fallen into the monstrous error with regard to time,
which he has exhibited in speaking of the period of the
birth of Christ; and can only be accounted for by the
haughty indifference with which natives of talent too fre-
quently treat foreign religions, wilfully keeping themselves
ignorant of facts which very little trouble might put them
in possession of. Notwithstanding this egregious miscon-
ception, we imagine few will be inclined to reject his testi-
mony as to the existence of the stone in question, which is
all we have to do with at present.

At a later period, this author published another small
work, called King Iceaou kaou, Inquiry into the Illustrious
Eeligion, from which we extract, " In the time of Wan-leih
(1573-1620),* when some people at Chang-gan were exca-
vating the ground, they found a tablet of the Illustrious re-
ligion, dated 2nd year of Keen-chung (A. D. 781), of the
Tang dynasty. The scholars and great statesmen, who had
become disciples of the western teaching, congratulated
each other on the fact of their religion having been propa-
gated in China so early as the time of the Tang ; but if
they were asked what the Illustrious religion really was,
they could not tell."

After this comes an extract from the Taou Jcoo tang Wan
tseih, Literary Miscellany of Taou-koo Hall, by Hang She-
tseuen, entitled Supplementary Inquiry into the Illustrious
Keligion. Without making particular mention of the discov-
ery of the stone, the author proceeds, as if that were an ad-
mitted fact, to remark upon the religion of which it records
the existence, and endeavors to draw a parallel between

* This period is at least four years too early.

296

that and Mohammedanism, and in some respects Buddhism,
and some other religions also.

In conclusion, the author of the Kin shih tsuy peen gives
his criticisms on the opinions of the various authors quoted ;
from which we extract a few sentences : " We have now ex-
amined the investigations which have been made regarding
the source and spread of the Illustrious religion of this tab-
let. In the Tseen- yen Appendices it is said, ' Now Jesus
the Lord of Heaven is worshipped by Europeans. Some
say this is the ancient religion of (Ta-tsin) Syria.' On the
tablet, there is the expression, ' He appointed the cross as
the means for determining the four cardinal points.' Now
Roman Catholics' always raising the hand and making the
sign of the cross, exactly agrees with the words of the tab-
let." Again, " The tablet speaks of ' The Most Virtuous
Alopun from the country of Syria.' The Record of the
Western Regions, given in the two histories of the Tang
dynasty, in their accounts of the various kingdoms, state
that (Fuh-lin) Judea is also named (Ta-tsin) Syria, but they
do not give a single word respecting the introduction of the
Illustrious religion into China." Again, "This tablet says
'The unchangeably chin, true, and invisible,' 'Veiling his
true, dignity,' 'In clear day, he ascended to his true, station,'
' The true and unchangeable doctrine,' ' Observing the azure
clouds, he bore the true sacred books.' Here is the word
chin, true, used in profusion. Now when Mohammedan
halls are built, they are called Houses of Worship : but
why are they also called Temples of the True Religion?
Now the Mohammedan religion is unquestionably an off-
shoot from the Illustrious religion ; but while in some things
they are similar, in others they differ. In consequence of
the difficulty of understanding these religions, I have not
been able to separate these things ; and so have presented
the various discussions on the subject, to afford the means
of more extensive inquiry. As to the meaning of the word
king, Illustrious, in the Illustrious religion of the tablet,
there are two passages in the inscription, viz. 'A Icing,
bright, suh, constellation, announced the felicitous event;'
and ' He suspended the king, bright, jih, sun, to invade the
chambers of darkness.' There is a mutual agreement in
meaning here with king sing, the bright star, and king kwang
lin chaou, the bright glory reflecting its lustre ; but ping

297

being a name of the Imperial family during the Tang dy-
nasty, there is also a possibility that the word king may have
been substituted for it."*

In the Teen yih Jco shoo muh, Catalogue JRaisonne of the Li-
brary of the Fan Family at Ningpo, published by Yuen
Yuen, the Governor of Che-keang, in 1809, there is a sup-
plementary volume containing a list of the impressions of
tablets in the establishment ; on the 10th page we find
there is a copy of the " Tablet commemorating the propaga-
tion of the Illustrious religion in China ; composed by the
priest King-tsing ; written in the square character by Lew
Sew-yen ; set up in the 1st month of the year 781." On the
40th page, among the additions, there is again noted a copy
of the " Tablet eulogizing the propagation of the Illustrious
religion in China ; composed by the priest King-tsing, and
written by Lew Sew-yen ; in the year 782." This last date
is doubtless a typographical error for 781.

The Hae kwo too die, Geography of the World, the joint
production of the well-known Commissioner Lin, and Wei
Yuen, an officer at court, one of the most popular works
that have been published of late, first appeared in 1844, and
soon passed through several editions. The 15th volume,
which professes to be a descriptive account of Judea, is de-
voted almost exclusively to a discussion of the Christian re-
ligion, in which the author takes frequent occasion to exhibit
the spirit of bitter animosity which he cherishes toward that
religion. A large portion of the whole is allotted to the
examination of the Syrian tablet, which is given almost
entire ; and most of what is contained in the Kin shih tsuy
peen is here reproduced, the author thus, as it were, endors-
ing the expression of confidence in the existence and authen-
ticity of the record ; while not the most remote hint of sus-
picion to the opntrary ever appears. Some additional extracts
and remarks are also given on the same subject. We select

* The idea which the author wishes to present here, is the identity of this
sect with the Parsees or fire-worshippers ; hence supposing the proper word
for their name 'was ping, " Illumination from fire ;" but as this character formed
the name of one of the emperors of the Tang, according to Chinese custom,
no one else was permitted to use it, and hence they substituted king, a word
of similar import. This is one of those vain speculations, in which Chinese au-
thors frequently indulge their imaginations, though there does not appear to
be any evidence to support the supposition.

298

a few lines of a quotation from the Kwei-sze luy kaou, Journal
of yarieties for the 13th year of Taou Kwang, by Yu See,
an inferior government officer. The author's remarks are
of little critical value, and he shows great inaptitude in deal-
ing with the subject in hand, although he appears tolerably
correct in the detail of isolated facts. His chief aim is to
show that the Christian religion is the natural offspring of
Buddhism. He says, " Jesus was born in the 2nd year of
the term Yuen-show of the emperor Gae Te of the Han dy-
nasty. A bright star announced the glad tidings in the
land of Judea. In the 2nd year of Keen-chung (781), of the
Tang dynasty, King-tsing, the priest of the Syrian church,
set up the tablet commemorating the promulgation of the
Illustrious religion in China, whence we hear of the first
erection of Syrian churches, in the 7th month of the 12th
year of Chin-kwan (638). The tablet speaks of the ' Triune
and mysterious in substance, the eternal true Lord God;'
again, it denominates his mother the ' Triune, divided in
nature, Illustrious and Honorable Messiah ;'* and says that
' a virgin gave birth to the Holy One in Syria,' Again it
speaks of ' Aloho (God),' ' Preserving their beards and
shaving their crowns,' ' Seven times a day having worship
and praise,' and 'Sacrificing once in seven days.' These
things, like the Manichean observances, after the Tang dy-
nasty, are never mentioned in the histories of the Sung and
Yuen."

In a recent work, Kwo chaou shejin ching leo, Illustrations
of the Poets of the Present Dynasty, by Chang Wei-ping,
of Pwan-yu, the 47th volume of the 2nd section, which
gives a brief abstract of the geography of foreign nations,
has the following remarks on the 24th page, respecting the
cross mentioned on the Tang tablet. "He appointed the
cross as the means for determining the four cardinal points ;
he moved the original spirit, and produced the two princi-
ples of nature (See the Tang tablet of the Propagation of
the Illustrious religion). The tablet of the Illustrious re-
ligion, speaking of the cross, says, ' He appointed the cross
as the means for determining the four cardinal points.' (Jour-

* The blunder in the interpretation of the inscription is unpardonable in a
native author, unless we make very great allowance for the doctrinal difficul-
ties connected with the subject.

299

nal of Varieties, for the 13th year of Taou-kwang.) As
Aloni and Verbiest, two Europeans, both adopt the tablet
of the Illustrious religion as an evidence in their favor,
when Yu See refers the origin of the cross to the tablet
of the Illustrious religion, where it says, ' He appointed the
cross as the means for determining the four cardinal points,'
this is not altogether inapplicable ; but what is meant by
appointing the cross is not well defined. Now when we
examine the Arabian Geographical Classic, we become per-
fectly clear on the meaning of the cross. I have appended
some quotations from this in the sequel. (Leisure sayings
of the old fisherman.)"

The Ying hwan che leo, Compendious Description of the
World, the most recent native work on geography, has re-
peatedly called forth the commendations of foreigners, for
the liberal and impartial manner in which the author treats
his subject, and was reviewed at some length in some of
the early numbers of the North- China Herald. In the 3rd
volume, when describing Persia, the author takes occasion
to introduce the subject of the Nestorian tablet. After dis-
coursing on various ancient religions, supposed to have
originated in Persia, he proceeds, " There is also the tablet
recording the propagation of the Illustrious religion in
China, as related by "King-tsing, a priest of the Syrian
church, A. D. 781." Again, " The tablet of the Illustrious
religion is still more lying and extravagant ; the Illustrious
religion is the sect of Fire-worshippers. Where it says,
'A bright star announced the felicitous event,' 'He sus-
pended the bright sun, to invade the chambers of darkness,'
'In clear day, he ascended to his true station, &c.,' the allu-
sions are all to the solar fire. Again, where it says, ' He ap-
pointed the cross as the means for determining the four
cardinal points,' 'Once in seven days, they sacrifice, &c.,'
it drags in the Roman Catholic religion. Where it speaks
of ' The triune and mysterious in substance, the eternal true
Lord Aloho (God),' we do not know who is meant, these
being all conventional terms. But this is merely a dressing
up of the dregs of Buddhism ; it is not the Fire-sect ; it is
not the (Teen) Heaven-sect ; it is not the Buddhist sect ; in
fine, there is no name by which to classify this religion.
For the Persians, in worshipping the spirit of fire, adhere to
their ancient usage ; while Buddhism was practised in India,

VOL. v. 39

300

it was their neighbor on the east ; and the religion of the
spirit of Heaven, prevailing in Syria, was their neighbor on
the west ; so that in the time of the Tang dynasty, the Ro-
man Catholic religion being then flourishing in Syria, it was
the craft of the foreign priests, to drag the three religions
into combination, and invent the name of the Illustrious
religion in order to exalt themselves ; so that the Chinese,
not understanding their origin and ramifications, might be
blindly led to adopt their faith ; thus verifying the saying
of Chang-le, that they are only desirous of hearing some-
thing strange. Again the tablet says, ' In A. D. 638, the
Greatly-virtuous Alopun, of the kingdom of Syria, came
from afar, bringing the sacred books and images, which he
presented at the chief capital.' If Alopun really came from
Syria, then his religion was the Roman Catholic, without
doubt ; his sacred books should be the Bible and Gospels,
which have been handed down in Europe, and his images
those of Jesus on the cross ; but we have not heard of these
being in existence at that time ; and when the Illustrious
religion is said to stand side by side with the fire-spirit of
the Persians, and to be merely a decoration of the schools
of Buddhism, this is inexplicable."

Thus far, we have been particular in giving our authori-
ties, that others, wishing to do so, may be able to verify the
statements ; for they are all taken from books within the
reach of almost every person in China. Those who have
access to more extensive stores of native literature, would
no doubt be able to add a great accumulation of evidence.
The above extracts will be sufficient, however, to show that
there is but one voice among the Chinese as to the authen-
ticity of this remarkable monument, for there is nothing on
the other side of the question knowingly withheld. Besides
this, if we consider carefully the subject of the inscription,
it may still further aid us in forming a correct judgment.

According to history, the Nestorian schism took place in
the beginning of the fifth century, and the members of this sect
soon distinguished themselves by their zealous endeavors to
propagate the faith through various countries. Their chief
seminary, at Edessa in Mesopotamia, became famed as the
centre of an extensive system of missionary influence.
About the close of the same century, this was transferred
to Nisibis, where it enjoyed the patronage of the Persian

301

monarchs, and was instrumental in sending man}' divines
through the countries of Eastern Asia, with the special, ob-
ject of converting the people to the knowledge and faith of
Christianity.

Although we meet with indisputable traces of their per-
severing efforts in the countries of the east during the suc-
ceeding centuries, yet the circumstantial details left on
record are meagre in the extreme. We have reason to be-
lieve, however, that a succession of these zealous men con-
tinued to travel eastward with this single purpose in view;
and especially about the time indicated on the tablet, when
Mohammedanism was making rapid strides throughout West-
ern Asia, having just subdued the kingdom of Persia, might
we naturally look for parties of these religionists, seeking
refuge in distant lands, forced from their homes by the per-
secuting zeal of the Mussulmans. According to the testi-
mony of Chinese scholars, the traces of the existence of
these foreign sectaries have been wilfully excluded from the
national histories, and, unless it be on the more durable me-
mentos of the stone tablets, we can only get a clue to them
in an indirect way. When, however, these indirect testi-
monies harmonize with and corroborate the tablets, there is
little danger of being misled ; and it may be noticed that
where a discrepancy exists, it is customary with the natives
to correct their histories by the tablets.

In the Appendices to the Tseen-yen Hall Tablets there
is an extract from the Chung-yen sze pae, Tablet of the
Chung-yen Monastery, composed by Shoo Yuen-yu, in the
ninth century, as follows : " Among the miscellaneous for-
eigners who arrived, there were the Manicheans, the Ta tsin,
'Syrians,' and the worshippers of the Spirit of Heaven.*
The temples of these three classes of foreigners throughout
the empire, are not equal in number to those of our Bud-
dhists in one small district." A search through several works
on ancient monuments and inscriptions has failed to discover
this tablet, but there is no doubt of its existence, as it is
quoted over and over again by other writers; the author of
the inscription is a prominent character in history, having
been censor during the reign of Wan-tsung.

* The tablet has Tsew shin, The Spirit of Autumn ; but the author who
makes the extract says that the character tsew is cut by mistake for keen,
"heaven," in which he is doubtless correct.

302

That the religions of the west, inclusive of the one now
in question, had gained a prominent standing in the empire
towards the middle of the eighth century, we know from the
imperial edict of Heuen-sung, from which an extract is given
in the Tsihfooyuen kwei, Great Tortoise of the National Ar-
chives, a book in 1000 volumes, published by imperial com-
mand, in the year 1012. It states* that, " In the year A. D.
746, in the 9th month, an edict was issued, saying, ' The
religion of the Persian classics, having come from Syria,
has now been long handed down and practised in China.
When its votaries first erected their temples, they gave
them their own national name. Henceforth, to enable
others to trace their origin, let all the Persian temples be-
longing to the two capitals have their name changed to
that of Syrian temples; and let this be complied with
through all the provinces of the empire.' " The same ex-
tract is found in the Se Jce tsung yu, West-brook Collected
Sayings, published by Yaou Kwae, during the Sung dy-
nasty, which also notices several other immigrations of for-
eign religions (not Buddhist) about th^same period ; one as
early as A. D. 632.

Tseen, in his Inquiry into the Illustrious Religion, quotes
the following passage from the Chang-gan che, Topography
of Chang-gan, f published by Min Kew, in the Sung dy-
nasty. " On the northeast of the E-ning portal street, is a
Persian foreign temple, which the emperor Tae-tsung caused
to be erected for the Syrian foreign priest Alosze^: in the
year A. D. 639." Again, " To the east of the Le-tseen por-
tal there is an ancient Persian temple ; this is the Persian
temple that Pei-loo-sze the Persian monarch requested to
have erected, in the year A. D. 677."

In a fragment of a work by Wei Shuh, of the Tang dy-
nasty, the Leang king sin ke, New Eecord of the Two Capi-
tals, there is also a notice of this last-mentioned temple.
Only the third out of five volumes of this work is extant,
and that incomplete ; but what remains, being a description

* Vol. 51, page 20. ,

•)• Chang-gan is the ancient name of Se-gan.

j The tablet gives Alopun. Perhaps Alosze may be a different form of the
same name ; or the author of the Topography may have fallen into an error
in quoting from memory, which is a common occurrence ; or, which is most
likely, it is a typographical error.

303

of Chang-gan, notices the existence of several of these for-
eign temples, and has been republished in the Yih tsun
tsung sAoo, Bepository of Kelics. It says, " On the south-
east of Cross street is a Persian temple. This Persian tem-
ple was erected in the year 677, at the request of the Persian
monarch Peih-loo-sze. Again, " On the northeast of Cross
street is a Persian foreign temple ; south from this is called
the Keu-tih Way." Whether these last may have been Par-
see or Christian edifices, is not easy to determine now, as it
was customary at that time to apply the name of Persian to
the temples of all the different sects which came to China
from that quarter.

The frequency and precision with which names of places
and persons, together with dates, are employed in any doc-
ument, have been considered a fair test of its genuineness ;
as experience has shown that cases of imposture are marked
by extreme vagueness in this respect. This we might natu-
rally expect, when we consider the intricate labyrinth which
the mention of even a few historical incidents involves.
Where, however, the facts so mentioned mutually support
and throw light on each other, and where not only the open
assertions, but the more latent inferences, preserve a general
consistency together, and harmonize with known history,
this must form a strong chain of presumptive evidence in
favor of the document in question. Applying this test to
the Nestorian monument, we find almost every line marked
by some historical date, some geographical allusion, or the
notice of some custom ; and in drawing attention to a few
of these, it will be observed that while there is no single
quotation, which, taken as an isolated statement, might not
perhaps be introduced by a modern hand, yet the harmoni-
ous sequence in a long train of facts is such as a forger would
scarcely manage without tripping in some matter.

The tablet, speaking of the priest Alopun, says, "In the
year A. D. 635, he arrived at Chang-gan ; the Emperor sent
his prime minister Duke Fang Heuen-ling, who, taking his
subordinates to the west border, conducted his guest into
the interior." On referring to the Tang shoo, History of the
Tang Dynasty,* we find Fang Heuen-ling spoken of as one
of the earliest and most attached servants of Tae-tsung,

* Biographical section, vol. 16.

304

the founder. Born in 580, being the son of a government-
officer under the declining Suy dynasty, he foresaw at an
early age the downfall of the reigning house, and resolved
to cast in his lot with the new aspirant. His attachment to
his prince, and his qualifications as a statesman, soon pro-
cured his promotion. In 627, when Tae-tsung assumed the
imperial dignity, Heuen-ling was made Duke of Hing, and
in 631 he was promoted to the Dukedom of Wei. In 635,
the year he is spoken of on the tablet, being that also of
the demise of Kaou-tsoo, the father of the emperor, we find
him receiving the confidential commission of an appoint-
ment to superintend the operations at the royal sepulchre ;
and at the same time, an acknowledgement of his merit in
the additional title of Triumvirate Associate of the Kising
State, and also an emolument equal to the revenue arising
from thirteen hundred people. During an incursion of the
Too-kuh-hwan Tartars the same year, Fang Heuen-ling is
spoken of as holding audiences of great importance, on be-
half of the emperor.

The tablet states, " In the year A. D. 699, the Buddhists,
gaining power, raised their voices in the eastern metropolis."
This apparently alludes to some act of intolerance practised
by the Buddhists towards the Christians ; but history makes
no mention of this ; an attentive consideration of the state
of affairs, however, at that period, will show that such is by
no means an improbable event. It should be borne in mincl
that this was during an interregnum in the Tang dynasty.
On the death of the emperor Kaou-tsung, in 684, his em-
press, named Woo, seized the reins of government, and
assumed the supreme power, with the appellation of Tsih-
teen. Fixing upon Lo-yang, the eastern capital, as the seat
of government, she banished the rightful heir to the throne,
and changed the name of the dynasty from Tang to Chow.
This princess, in her early days, having submitted to the
Buddhist tonsure, was admitted as an inmate of a nunnery,
whence she was taken by Kaou-tsung to be his consort, and
eventually empress. While residing in this religious estab-
lishment, her mental character and tastes probably received
much of that bias which particularly marked her after pro-
gress. Once alone, and free to sway the imperial sceptre,
her partiality for the Buddhists soon developed itself, in the
liberal patronage she bestowed upon that class. Much of

305

the state-revenue was expended in building religious houses,
and casting brazen images ; and it was only at the impor-
tunate solicitation of an influential minister, Teih Jin-kee,
that she was dissuaded from going in state to visit a pagoda
containing relics of Buddha, at the request of a foreign
priest. When about to proceed, Teih Jin-kee cast himself
on the ground before her, imploring her, as she cared for
the national welfare, to desist ; the desired effect was thus
obtained.* This took place in 699, the year referred to on
the tablet, and may show the great influence the Buddhists
had then obtained at court. Shortly after this, we find a
spirited memorial presented by Jin-kee, in which he exam-
ines in detail the various measures adopted by her majesty
in reference to the Buddhists, and sets forth with a degree of
freedom the national calamities which such a course was
likely to produce, f In 705 the government of this princess
was overthrown, and the Tang succession was resumed in
the person of Chung-tsung.

The tablet again says, " In the year A. D. 713, some low
fellows excited ridicule, and spread slanders in the western
capital." Respecting the persecution here hinted at, history
is entirely silent, as it is about almost everything connected
with this sect. All we can assert is that there is nothing
improbable in the statement.

On the tablet we read, " The high-principled emperor
Heuen-tsung caused the Prince of Ning and others, five
princes in all, personally to visit the felicitous edifice."
From the Tang history, again, we learn that the Prince of
Ning was the elder brother of Heuen-tsung, and had given
way to the latter in the imperial succession. He was pro-
moted to the princedom of Ning in the year 716. Besides
these two, the emperor Juy-tsung had four other sons, the
Prince of Shin, the Prince of Ke, the Prince of See, and the
Prince of Suy. When Heuen-tsung arrived at Chang-gan
from Lo-yang, in 701, he appointed a residence for his five
brothers in the Hing-king Way, and named it the Residence
of the Five Princes. These six brothers appear to have
lived together on the most amicable terms, the intercourse

* Tung keen Tcang muh, vol. 42.

f Tang shoo, Biographical section, vol. 39.

306

of the emperor with the other five being frequent and har-
monious.*

Again, the tablet states, " In 742, orders were given to
the great general Kaou Leih-sze, to send the five sacred por-
traits (of the Tang emperors), and have them placed in the
church, and a gift of a hundred pieces of silk accompanied
these pictures of intelligence." In the section of the Tang
history devoted to the Biography of Eunuchs, Kaou Leih-
sze occupies the second place on the list. From this me-
moir we learn that he was a native of Pwan-chow, originally
surnamed Fung ; that he was born near the end of the seventh
century, and, having become a eunuch, was admitted into
the palace in his youth ; that some time after, he was adopted
as the son of an officer in the palace named Kaou Yen-fuh,
whence he assumed the surname Kaou. The great favor he
enjoyed with Heuen-tsung may be inferred from a remark
which that emperor was in the habit of making, " When
Leih-sze is in attendance, I can sleep in security ;" hence,
the biographer adds, he was constantly in the palace, only
going out on rare occasions. In 741; he was made Army-
controlling Great General, and also Guardian-of-the-right-
palace-door Great General, being at the same time promoted
to the dukedom of Po-hae.f In the biography of the
Prince of Ning, it is said that on the death of that prince,
in 741, the Great General Kaou Leih-sze was deputed to
place on his shrine an inscription written by the emperor.^
Heuen-tsung being the sixth of the Tang dynasty, the five
sacred portraits alluded to must be those of the preceding
five emperors, Kaou-tsoo, Tae-tsung, Kaou-tsung, Chung-
tsung, and Juy-tsung.

The tablet says, " When the Duke Koh Tsze-e, secondary
minister of state, and prince of Fun-yang, first conducted
the military in the northern region, &c." In the Tang his-
tory there is a long biography of Koh Tsze-e, from which
it may be seen that he was one of the principal historical
personages of the period. According to this, he was born
in Hwaichow in 696, and was made Military Commissioner
for So-fang, the Northern Region, in 755, on occasion of a

* Tang shoo, Biographical section, vol. 45.
f Ibid, vol. 134.
j Ibid., vol.45.

307

revolt by Gan Luli-shan, a general under the imperial gov-
ernment, in the suppression of which he took a very active
part ; and, as a reward for his service, was created Duke of
Tae-kwoh in 757. In the beginning of 762, he was made
Fun-yany keun wang. Prince of Fun-yang, and was still alive
at the date of the inscription, having died in the sixth month
of the same year, at the venerable age of 85.*

Among the geographical allusions on the tablet, the name
of most frequent occurrence is Ta-tsin, which we have trans-
lated Syria, as there is little room for doubt that this is the
term most applicable to the eight several occasions on which
the name is introduced. That the author of the inscription
himself had not a very clear notion of the country indicated,
one may be inclined to surmise from the quotation which he
introduces from the Chinese historical books, written several
centuries prior to the period in question. A reference to
the histories of the Han and Wei dynasties, as indicated,
proves peculiarly unsatisfactory in determining the precise
country intended. The information furnished by these au-
thorities has the app'earance of a miscellaneous collection of
statements from various sources ; it being left to the sagacity
of the reader to discriminate between that which is trust-
worthy, and a part which evidently borders on the fabulous.
A statement in the History of the After Han points une-
quivocally to the Eoman empire as Ta-tsin, it being said
that the emperor Gan-tun (Anthony) sent an ambassador to
China, A. D. 166. Other parts of the account, however,
are exceedingly difficult to reconcile, and it is scarcely prob-
able that the Nestorian missionaries would select Eome as a
national designation for their church. The accounts may be
somewhat harmonized by s.upposing that, as Syria once
formed a part of the Eoman empire, the name and glory of
that great empire may have attached to it, in oriental his-
tory, down to later times. The After Han History corrob-
orates, in the main, the description of Ta-tsin given on the
tablet ; we find it there stated that the country is famed for
its coral, curious gems, fire-proof cloth, life-restoring incense,
bright-moon pearls, and night-lustre gems. It is also stated
that the country is entirely free from alarms, robbery, theft,
and brigandage. The care of the sovereign in the adminis-

* Biographical section, vol. 70.
VOL. v. 40

308

tration of justice is noticed, and the practice of selecting the
princes on account of their virtues, as also the great extent
of the land. But while the tablet states that "on the west
it extends towards the borders of the immortals and the
flowery forests ; on the east it lies open to the violent winds
and weak waters," the Han History on the contrary says,
" To the west of this kingdom are the weak waters and
moving sands,* near to the residence of the & wang moo,
'Mother of the western king,' almost at the place where the
sun sets."f The account of Ta-tsin in the Wei history is
substantially the same as in that of the Han, but much con-
densed. The author of the inscription, however, mentions
another book on which he seems to have relied, Se yih too
he, Illustrated Memoir of the Western Regions. Although
there is little probability of obtaining this work now, yet
we find in the catalogue of books given in the cyclopaedia
Yuh hae,$ that a work of that name is said to have been
presented to the emperor in the year 661, by Wang Ming-
yuen, who was sent as commissioner to Turkestan ; which
may reasonably be supposed to be the book referred to.
On the heading to the tablet§ this is called "the Illustrious
religion of Ta-tsin;" in the title to the inscription, King-tsing
is said to be a "priest of the Ta-tsin church;" and in the
emperor Tae-tsung's proclamation, he says, " let the proper
authority build a Ta-tsin church in the capital in the E-ning
Way." Now although it might be inferred that, in the first
two of these instances, the name Ta-tsin must necessarily be
used, in compliance with the edict issued by Heuen-tsung
thirty -five years previously, " that all the temples of Persian
origin should henceforth pass under that designation ;" yet it
cannot well be supposed that the same argument would ap-
ply to the imperial proclamation issued a hundred and seven

* This is an evident adaptation of one of the most ancient of Chinese tradi-
tions, which records that the residence of the Se wang moo is unapproachable,
in consequence of its being surrounded by waters so weak as to be incapable
of floating the lightest object, and sands which are continually shifting. The
" weak waters and moving sands" are mentioned in the Yu kung chapter of
the Shoo-king.

•j- How Han shoo, vol. 118.

t Vol. 16. p. 7.

§ In giving the translation of the inscription, in a previous part of this
paper, the heading of the tablet was omitted ; it consists of nine large char-
acters in three lines, signifying, " Tablet of the dissemination in China of the
Illustrious religion of Syria."

809

years prior to the said edict ; hence we are naturally directed
to Syria, as the cradle of this religion. It is said " the Most-
virtupus Alopun arrived from the country of Ta-tsin" and
Tae-tsung, in his proclamation, calls him "The Greatly-
virtuous Alopun, of the kingdom of Ta-tsin." Again, the
tablet says, " In 744 the priest Keih-ho, in the kiDgdom of
Ta-tsin, looking towards the star (of China), was attracted
by its transforming influence, &c." In reference to these it
may be remarked, that although Nisibis was then the chief
seat of the Nestorian church, yet Syria was still within their
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, there being a metropolitan at Da-
mascus, and also at Jerusalem. It is possible, however, from
the loose way in which Ta-tsin is spoken of, that its limits
may have been extended even far to the east of Syria. The
only other instance in which Ta-tsin is mentioned, marks the
spot intended with much greater precision even than all the
others ; where it is said, "a virgin gave birth to the Holy
one in Ta-tsin" the birth of our Saviour leaves little room
for question as to Syria being the locality alluded to. There
is still, indeed, another reference on the tablet to the same
locality, though, from the figurative language employed, it
is much less definite than any of the above-mentioned in-
stances. It is said, "At that time there was the chief priest
Lo-han, the Greatly-virtuous Kie-leih, and others of noble
estate from the Kin fang, ' golden regions.' " It is well
known that the Chinese, in their cosmic theories, have allot-
ted each of the four cardinal points respectively to one of
their original elements, in which category the west is said to
belong to gold ; hence the force of the above paragraph,
where by the "golden regions" appear to be meant the
countries to the west of China.

The next geographical allusion on the stone reads, "a
bright star announced the felicitous event, and Po-sze, 'Per-
sians', observing the splendor, came to present tribute." This
name was well known to the Chinese at that time, being the
designation of an extensive sect then located in the empire,
and the name of a nation with which they had held com-
mercial and political intercourse for several centuries. The
statement here is in admirable harmony with the general
tradition of the early church, that the Magi or wise men
mentioned in Matthew's gospel were no other than philoso-
phers of the Parsee sect.

310

Farther down we read, " In the year A. D. 635, Alopun
arrived at Chang-gan." This scarcely requires any remark,
as it is well known that Chang-gan of the Tang dynasty is
the modern Se-gan foo, where the stone was found, and
where it is preserved to the present time ; and although there
is nothing in the inscription to indicate the locality of its
erection, yet, were it left to conjecture, no place could be
selected with a greater show of probability tnan this. An-
other allusion to the same place, however, occurs on the
tablet, which is not so obvious to the foreign reader, who is
unable to consult the Chinese original. We have translated
it, " in the year A. D. 713, some low fellows excited ridi-
cule, and spread slanders in the western capital." A trans-
lation by M. Leontiewski* gives, " and in the western state
of Chao they attempted to decry it." An English transla-
tion in the Chinese Repository f gives, "and in Sikau spread
abroad slanderous reports." A French version by M. Dal-
quie^: gives, "et la calomnierent dans Sy Kao (c'est 1' an-
cienne Cour du Roy Uen uam dans la Province de Xen sy)"
A Latin version by Kircher§ gives, " calumniatique sunt in
Sy Kao (antiqua est Regis Uen uam aula in Xen sy Prouin-
cia)." While the last two of these versions are in error in
saying that this was the residence of Wan-wang, the two
preceding leave the locality undefined. The characters we
have translated "western capital" are Se Haou, literally
" western Haou ;" Haou being the name of the site, within
five or six miles of the present Se-gan, where Woo-wang
established his court after the subjugation of the Shang
dynasty, about the end of the twelfth century before the
Christian era. In B. C. 196, Kaou-tsoo of the Han dynasty
removed his court to this vicinity, then known as Chang-
gan. Two }Tears later, Hwuy-te, the next emperor, sur-
rounded it with a wall, and raised it to the rank of a city.
From that period down to the Tang, Chang-gan continued,
with various intervals, to be occupied as the imperial resi-
dence. || It is known to be the practice of the literati to give
the preference to the antique names of places in their ele-
gant compositions ; hence this designation of one of the two

* See The Cross and the Dragon, p. 28. \ For May, 1846.

J See La Chine lllustree. § See China lllustrata.

| Chang-gan che, yol. 1, pp. 1-4.

311

then existing metropolises. A singular corroboration ap-
pears to have come to light recently with respect to this site.
The Syriac legend at the foot informs us that this tablet was
set up by "the Lord Jazedbuzid, Priest and Vicar-episcopal
of Cumdan, the royal city." Following this record are
the names of four dignitaries in Syriac, the last of which is,
" Gabriel, Priest, Archdeacon, and Ecclesiarch of Cumdan
and Sarag. " The Eoman Catholic fathers were sorely puz-
zled to apply this name to any definite locality. While
Renaudot, in his "Anciennes Relations," endeavors to prove
this to be Nanking, Prernare denies his position, in an article
published in the "Lettres edifiantes ;"* and it is only since
the publication of Reinaud's Travels of the Arabians in
China, that we learn that during the middle ages, the place
known to the Arabs as Kumdan, was no other than Chang-
gan.f If, then, this place was the Kumdan of Arabian trav-
ellers, no argument is required to identify it with Cumdan
in the Nestorian inscription. A topical notice of Chang-gan
occurs again in Tae-tsung's proclamation, which says, "let
the proper authority build a Syrian church in the capital
in the E-ning fang, ' E-ning Way.' " The fragmentary
work above referred to, New Record of the Two Capitals,
states^: that, in the third street west from the imperial city,
the third fang from the north end is called "E-ning fang"§

* Lettres edifiantes et curieuses. Tome 3, p. 579. New edition. Paris.

\ " On the genuineness of the so-called Nestorian Monument of Singan-
fu," by Edward E. Salisbury, p. 413. Not having the original work at hand,
we take this statement on the above authority.

t Page 14.

§ The Chang-gan che gives an elaborate detail of the streets and buildings
in this ancient capital, from which we learn that the city was composed of
three principal parts : 1st, the Kung ching or "Palatial city," 4 le in extent from
east to west, and 2 le 270 paces from north to south ; 2nd, the Hwang ching
or " Imperial city," on the south of the preceding, 5 le 150 paces east to west,
by 3 le 140 paces north to south, containing 7 streets longitudinally, and 5
transversely ; 3rd, the Wae koh ching or " Suburban city," enclosing the two
preceding on three sides, being 18 le 115 paces from east to west, and 15 le
175 paces from north to south. The whole of this space was parcelled out
into fangs or solid squares, each square being equally divided by two streets,
one longitudinally, and one transversely, in the form of a cross, and hence
termed Cross streets ; with the exception of those fangs to the south of the
imperial city, in which there were no streets dividing them longitudinally.
South of the imperial city, the space was occupied by four fangs from east to
west, and nine from north to south, making thirty -six. On the east and west
sides of the imperial city respectively, were thirteen fangs, extending the
whole length from north to south of the suburban city, while the breadth of
each was occupied by three fangs.

312

and remarks on the next page, that "on the north-east of
Cross street is a Persian foreign temple."* The Chang-gan
che stalest that the original name of this was He-kwang fang,
but was changed to E-ning fang in 617, the national desig-
nation for that year being E-ning. Another local allusion
runs thus, " The emperor commanded the priest Lo-han, the
priest Poo-lun, and others, seven in all, together with the
Greatly -virtuous Keih-ho, to perform a service of merit in
the Hing-king kung, ' King-king palace.' " In the Chang-gan
che\ we find, that on the east side of the 3rd street east of
the imperial city, the 4th fa ng from the north end was origin-
ally called Lung-king fang, but the name was changed to
Hing-king fang on the accession of the emperor Heuen-tsung,
in 713. Within this fang was the residence of the five broth-
ers of Heuen-tsung. As the inscription reads, we are led
to believe that the occurrence there noticed took place in
741, or shortly after. Now on referring to the Tsih foo yuen
Jcwei, under the section on Imperial residences, § we find it
recorded, "that in the year 714, the Prince of Sung|| and
his brothers memorialized the emperor, requesting that he
would occupy their former residence in Chang-gan as a
royal palace, which was henceforth by imperial decree desig-
nated the Sing-king kung, ' Hing-king palace,^ and was dec-
orated with mottoes written by the emperor. In 728, this
palace was first used in transacting the business of the gov-
ernment." Frequent mention is made of this edifice in the
history of that period. In the Ta Ming yih tung che, it is
said to be five le southeast from the official residence of the
Prefect of Se-gan foo.

One of those antithetical sentences with which the in-
scription abounds, and which has already been noticed, in-
troduces another name requiring a word of explanation. It
is, u In the year A. D. 699, the Buddhists, gaining power,
raised their voices in the ' eastern metropolis.' " The char-

* A quotation from the Chang-gan che in a preceding part of this paper, in
which this temple is said to have been erected for the Syrian foreign priest
Alosze, can leave no doubt as to this being the temple alluded to on the tablet.

f Vol. 10, p. 9.

t Vol. 9, p. 2.

8 Vol. U, p. 8.

I This was the elder brother of the emperor. He was created Prince of
Sung in 710, and promoted to be Prince of Ning in 716.

313

acters which we have translated " eastern metropolis" are
Tung Chow, literally " eastern Chow." It has already been
stated that the empire was at this time under the govern-
ment of the empress Woo Tsih-teen, who had removed her
residence from Chang-gan to Lo-yang* in Ho-nan. By ref-
erence to the Lo-yang keen die, Topography of Lo.-yang,f
we find the earliest notice of this city as a royal seat, dur-
ing the reign of Ping-wang (B. C. 770—720) of the Chow
dynasty, which monarch, it is said, being pressed by the
western Tartars, fled from-the capital Haou eastward, to the
city of Lo, which was hence denominated Eastern Chow.
That the dynasty of Woo Tsih-teen was also named Chow,
might afford a still further reason for restoring the ancient
appellation.

The next local reference is as follows, " The accomplished
and enlightened emperor Suh-tsung rebuilt the Illustrious
churches in Ling-woo and four other places." The Tang
History states that this prince was proclaimed emperor at
Ling- woo in 756, while his father was seeking refuge in the
country now known as Sze-chuen, on occasion of the re-
bellion of Gan Lo-shan. Ling-woo is the present Ling-
chow in Kan-suh. These five places are called Jceun on the
tablet. This Tceun is. the name of an ancient territorial di-
vision of the empire, which had changed its signification
seven times previous to the Tang dynasty. According to
the geographical section of the Tang History, about the year
618 the name Jceun was exchanged for that of chow through-
out the empire ; about 742, the name chow was again ex-
changed for Jceun ; and in 757, being the second year of Suh-
tsung, the term Jceun was finally abandoned, and chow again
adopted instead.

The term Tceun occurs on one other occasion on the tablet,
in the title of Koh Tsze-e, who is designated Prince of Fun-
yang Tceun. Although this title was conferred in 762, five
years after the geographical abandonment of the word Jceun,
yet, as it is exactly confirmed by the biography of Koh-
Tsze-e, there is no room to doubt its authenticity ; the term
being probably retained in titles of nobility long after the
other application had ceased. Fun-yang, in the province of
Shan-se, is still known by the same name.

* "Within the present Ho-nan foo, the capital of the province.
f Vol. 10, p. 1.

314

A little lower down there is another part of the empire
referred to ; " When the Duke Koh Tsze-e at first conducted
the military in So-fang, ' the northern region,' &c." This is
the present prefecture of Ning-hea in Kan-suh, which was
known about the time spoken of, by the names of Hea-chow,
So-fang, and Ning-so, one of the districts it included being
also named So-fang. The same name occurs again in the
title of the priest E-sze, who is called the Associated Sec-
ondary Military Commissioner for So-fang, "the northern
region."

The last line states that this inscription was " written by
Lew Sew-yen, formerly Military Superintendent for Tae-
chow" This is the same as the present Tae-chow in Che-
keang, which first received that name in 622.

Another geographical notice occurs on the Chinese part
of the inscription, where it is said of the priest E-sze, that,
"from the distant city of Wang-shih, 'Rajagriha,' he came
to visit Chung- hea, ' China.' " Wang-shih, literally "Royal
residence," which is also the translation of the Sanskrit word
Rajagriha, is the name of a city on the banks of the Ganges,
which occurs in several Buddhist works. In the cyclope-
dia Fa yuen choo lin* an extract from the Shih-urh yew
king, Classic of the Twelve Excursions, states that the city
of Lo ym-ke, " Rajagriha," is called in the Tsin yen, " lan-
guage of China," the city of " Wang-shih ;" and that it is
reported to have been the city where the first kings of Mo-
ka-to, "Magadha," lived. The Buddhist traveller Heuen-
tsang writes the name of this place Ko-lo-chay-keih-le-he,
which is merely another orthography of Rajagriha. As this
was one of the most important of the Buddhist cities in In-
dia, it is natural to suppose that E-sze was a Buddhist priest.
There are many precedents in the national literature, for
the use of Chung-hea as a designation of China. We find
this term as early as the third century, in an ode by Pan Koo,
the historian of the Han ; and the two parts of the name
are used separately in the same sense, in the Shoo-Jcing, one
of the oldest books in existence. One of these, Chung-Tcwo
"the middle kingdom," occurs in the Section Tsze tsae of
that classic, f and has been retained unchanged down to the
present time, more than 2,000 years, as an unfading tradition

* Vol. 44, p. 13.

$ See Medhurst's translation of the Shoo-King, p. 240.

315

of those early times, when the ruling state was surrounded
on all sides by a cluster of small feudatories, obedient to the
commands of the sovereign. This name is also found twice
on the tablet. The heading is, " Tablet of the dissemina-
tion in Chung-kwo of the Illustrious religion of Syria."
The title gives, " Tablet eulogizing the propagation of the
Illustrious religion in Chung-kwo." The name given for
China on the Syriac portion of the tablet, is Zinstan. Those
who discover China in the " land of Sinim," in Isaiah, will
probably find here aji independent testimony in favor of
their view, while the arguments that have been brought for-
ward on that question leave no doubt that Zinstan here ap-
plies to China. Kircher's China Illustrata may be consulted
with advantage on the subject, and also an article on the
"Land of Sinim" in the Chinese Eepository for March,
1844. It may be noticed, moreover, that the name used for
China in Buddhist books long anterior to the date of this
monument, is Che-na* In an extract from a Syriac brevi-
ary, given by Kircher, the name for China only differs by
one letter from that on the tablet. In a subsequent part of
the Syriac, the term malche dizinio occurs, which we have
given "king of China;" but the more literal rendering
would be "king of the Chinese."

In the Syriac subscription above noticed, the priest Ga-
briel is called Ecclesiarch of Cumdan and Sarag. It is
very doubtful what place is here indicated by Sarag. Mos-
heimf says it is a city of southern China, quoting Ptolemy
as his authority for the statement.

In a previous part of the subscription, mention is made of
" Mailas, Priest of Balach, a city of Turkestan." We find
in the work of Mosheim above quoted:}: a table taken from
Assemani, of the metropolitan seats of the Nestorians, in
which Turkestan forms the nineteenth on the list.

There is still another national appellation in the Syriac
portion, where it is said, Besanaih alf utisaain vtarten dia-
vanoti;1 "In the year of the Greeks one thousand and
ninety-two." It will be observed that the name lavanoiZ
(lonians) employed here for the Greek nation, from Javan

* See Notices of Chinese Buddhism, by Rev. J. Edkins, in the Shanghae Al-
manac for 1855.

f Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica, Appendix, p. 28.
\ Appendix, p. 2.

VOL. T. 41

316

the ancestor of the race, is quite in harmony with the usage
of oriental literature, where this ancient term has been re-
tained long after it was given up in the west.

Some official designations occur on the tablet, which it
may not be out of place to mention. It is said, "the Em-
peror sent his Tsae chin, ' prime minister,' Duke Fang
Heuen-ling." In the Tang History the same term Tsae chin
is applied to the prime ministers. At the establishment of
the Tang dynasty, the duties of the Tsae seang, "prime min-
ister," were performed by the chief officers of the three Sing,
"tribunals," denominated respectively Chung-shoo ling, "sec-
ondary minister of state," She chung, " imperial attendant,"
and Shang-shoo ling, " chief president ;" who deliberated to-
gether respecting the government of the state, without the
appointment of Tsae seang as a separate office. At a later
period, the inferior ministers declined the duties of Shang-
shoo ling, in consequence of the emperor Tae-tsung having
himself formerly sustained that office. Hence the Puh-yays
became chief officers of the Shang-shoo sing, " President's
tribunal," and these with the She chung and Chung-shoo ling
were entitled Tsae seang* According to the biography
of Fang Heuen-ling in the Tang History, he was made
Shang-shoo tso puh-yay, " senior prime minister," in 630, five
years previous to the time alluded to in the above quota-
tion, which so far presents a perfect agreement with facts.

Lower down, we read, "When the Duke Koh Tsze-e,
Chung-shoo ling, ' secondary minister of state,' &c." The
office of Chung-shoo ling was first established during the Han
dynasty, and underwent a variety of changes, both with re-
gard to the incumbent duties and the name, previous to the
Tang. At the commencement of that dynasty, the designa-
tion was Nuy-she ling ; in 620, it was changed to Chung-
shoo ling ; in 662, this was abandoned for that of Yew seang ;
in 670, the name Chung-shoo ling was again restored ; in
685, the name Nuy she was adopted instead ; in 705, Chung-
shoo ling was renewed ; in 713, this was changed for Tsze-
we ling ; in 717, the name Chung-shoo ling was again adopt-
ed ; and was once more changed to that of Yew seang in
742 ; this last was replaced by Chung-shoo ling in 757, the
same year in which the Tang History informs us that Koh
Tsze-e was promoted to that dignity, and just about the time

* Wan keen tung kaou, Antiquarian Researches, vol. 49, p. 5.

317

alluded to on the tablet, when he was gaining honors by thd
reduction of the insurgents in So-fang.

Again it is said, " In 742, orders were given to the Td
tseang-keun, l Great General,' Kaou Leih-sze, &c. ;" and his
biography states that in the same year he was made Kwan*
keun ta tseang-keun, " Army- controlling Great General," and
Yew Jceen-mun wei ta tseang-keun, " Inferior-guardian-of-the-
gafe Great General." The Ta tseang-keun was a military title
first used during the latter part of the third century B. C., and
employed in later times, with a great variety of prefixes.
We find the first mention of the Kwan*keun ta tseang-keun
about the end of the fifth century, and after a number of
changes the name was re-established in 637. The title Yew
keen-mun toei ta tseang-keun was first used in 624.*

Again, the tablet has, "Our great benefactor the Tsze tsze kea-
sha seng, 'Imperially-conferred-purple-gown Priest,' E-sze,
Kin tsze kwang^luh tafoo, ' Titular Great Statesman of the
Banqueting-house,' Tung So-fang tsee-too foo sze, 'Associated
Secondary Military Commissioner for the Northern Region,'
and She Teen chung keen, 'Examination Palace Overseer,' &c."
Without hazarding a conjecture as to who this priest E-sze
was, it seems evident, from the elaborate array of titles apj
pended to his name, that the writer intended to mark it
with peculiar honor. Near about the time indicated here,
we find the practice commencing of the emperor's conferring
gowns on members of the priesthood. The first notice of
such occurs in 778, when, it is said, the emperor sent a pur-

§le robe on the occasion of the death of the foreign priest
un-to. The following year, a gown was conferred on the
priest Ko-tsing, as a special token of imperial jfavor.f An-
other instance of the same distinction occurs in the subscrip-
tion at the foot of the tablet, where the Assistant Examiner
is called the Tsze tsze kea-sha, " Imperially-conferred-purple-

§own Priest." The reader of middle-age Chinese history
oes not need to be informed, that it was no rare occurrence
for priests to occupy civil and military offices in the state
during the Tang and preceding dynasties. Of the three ti-
tles here given, the first is merely an indication of rank, by
which the bearer is entitled to a certain emolument from the
state ; the second is his title as an officer actively engaged

* Tsihfooyeun kwei, vol. 340, pp. 1, 6, 19, 20.
f Ibid, voL 62, pp. 2, 8.

318

in the imperial service ; and the third is an honorary title,
which gives to the possessor a certain status in the capital,
without any duties or emolument connected therewith.

Tafoo is a dignity of very old standing in China, having
been used during the Shang dynasty, at least twelve centu-
ries before the Christian era. The origin of kwang-luh as
prefixed to titles is to be found in the Paoujin, " Caterer," of
the Chow.* The name kwang-luh itself was first used about
a century before the Christian era ;f and the title Kwang-luh
tafoo was established at the beginning of the third century
after Christ.:}: Those who bore this title were privileged to
wear a silver signet suspended from the waist by a blue tie ;
in 268 a new order was created, a grade higher, who wore a
golden signet suspended by a purple tie, and were designa-
ted Kin tsze kwang-luh ta foo, while those of the old order
were called Yin tsing kwang-luh tafoo.§

The Tsee-too sze was a military office introduced early in
the seventh century, for the purpose of more effectually
guarding the border territories ; the first appointment hav-
ing been made in 610. || With each Tsee-too sze, ten subor-
dinate officers were appointed, with the title of Tung tsee-too
foo sze.*§ The office of So-fang tsee-too sze was established in
721, with the object of keeping in check the Tartar hordes in
the north.** Koh Tsze-e received this commission in 754 ;ff
so that it is probable that E-sze received his appointment as
Tung So-fang tsee-too foo sze soon after.

The office of Teen chung keen was first established by the
Wei dynasty, towards the end of the third century, for the
purpose of taking cognizance of various duties connected
with the imperial household. The name underwent several
changes previous to the Tang. In 662, it was changed to
Chung yu keen ; and in 670 the original name was restored,
and continued to be used throughout the dynasty.^ The
practice of selecting a class of men by examination to fill
the offices of government began with the Tang ; and in 703
nominal offices were first conferred upon the successful can-

* Tsihfoo yuen Jewel, vol. 620, p. 1. f Ibid., voL 620, p. 3.

1 Ibid., vol. 620, p. 5. § Ibid., vol. 620, p. 10.

| Wan keen tung kaou, vol 69, p. 12. ^[ Sin Tang shoo, vol. 49, part 2, p. 4.

** T'uh she fang yu ke yaou, Geography of the Historians, vol. 6, p. 41.

Tung keen bang muh, vol. 44, p. 23.

Wan keen tung kaou, vol. 67, p- 1.

319

didates, with the word She, " Examination," prefixed to the
official title;* hence the designation of E-sze, She teen
chung keen.

Another instance of the above-mentioned use of She oc-
curs in the Chinese part of the subscription, where the As-
sistant Examiner is styled She Tae-chang king, Examination
High Statesman of the Sacred Kites. The duties of the
Toe chang-kmg, which are of very remote origin, appear to
have arisen from a desire to propitiate the spiritual powers.
So early as the time of the ancient emperor Shun, we find
two officers, Pih-e and Kwei, appointed to take charge of the
sacrificial rites, and of sacred music ; and after more than a
thousand years, the various charges connected with this
branch of the public service during the Chow were all under
the control of an officer styled the Ta Tsung-pih, or Minister
of Rites. During the Tsin dynasty, which succeeded, the
name was changed to Fung-chang ; and this was again
changed to Tae-chang at the commencement of the Han.
From this to the Tang, the name was several times changed,
the office being always deemed one of high importance in the
government. In 661 Tae-chang was changed to Fung-chang ;
but Tae-chang was again adopted in 670 ; in 701 this was re-
placed by he title Sze-le ; and in 704 Tae-chang was again
restored, one officer with this title being termed King, while
there were two inferiors named Seaou king.-\- But as the priest
Ye-le, whose name is inscribed on the tablet, has the word
She prefixed to his title, it is seen that the title was merely
nominal in his case, indicating a degree of rank far inferior
to that of the officer above spoken of.

The inscription is said to be " written by Lew Sew-yen,
Chaou e lang, Secretary to Council, formerly Sze sze san-
keun, Military Superintendent, for Tae-chow." The Chaou
e lang was a supernumerary office established during the
Suy, and continued throughout the Tang, but was not re-
tained after the extinction of that dynasty.:};

The office of Sze sze san keun appears to have existed as
early as the Han, but there is no record of the duties per-
taining to it at that time. From the tune of the Northern
Tsie, the post was filled by those distinguished for merit.

* Sin Tang shoo, vol. 45, p. 6.

f Wan heen tung kaou, vol. 55, p. 2.

j Yen keen luy han, vol. 9*7, p, 38.

320

During the Tang, they had charge of the construction of
public buildings.*

The Chinese titles and designations of members of the
hierarchy used on this tablet are all taken from the Bud-
dhist vocabulary. Alopun, the Nestorian apostle, seems to
have enjoyed great favor under both the emperors Tae-tsung
and Kaou-tsung, by the latter of •whom he was made Chin-
kwo tafa choo, Great Conservator of Doctrine for the Pre-
servation of the State. The title Chin-kiuo was conferred
on various occasions during the Tang, not only on members
of the priesthood, but also on military officers, as a high mark
of honor, indicating a degree of merit. A monastery in the
district of Wan-men, in the capital, was also distinguished
as the Chin-kwo sze. The title Tafa choo is obviously of
Buddhist origin. The title in full is apparently the equiva-
lent of the Syriac title given on the right side of the Chi-
nese inscription, Papasi de Zinstan, or Metropolitan of
China; and if so, the priest Adam mentioned here must
have been a successor of Alopun.

A class of officers subordinate to this is noticed in the
ode, where it is said that in the time of Kaou-tsung " Fa'
choo, Overseers of the Church, were appointed in due
form ;" and at the end, it is said "the Fa choo Ning-shoo
had the charge of the congregations of the Illustrious in
the east," at the time the inscription was written. The first
name on the margin in Syriac is " Mar Johanan, Apiscupo"
The identity of the Chinese Fa choo and the Syriac Apiscupo
is no unreasonable supposition, both being appropriately
translated by the term "Bishop."

Another name of office occurs in the Chinese subscription,
in the title of the priest Ye-le, who is called /Sze-choo, Chief
Presbyter. In the Syriac subscription, the title Gurapis-
cupo is four times applied to individuals, viz. to the priest
Adam, to the priest Jidbuzad twice, and to the priest Sar-
gis. The latter name, with the same title, again occurs
among the Syriac names on the margin. The Sze-choo of
the Chinese here naturally suggests itself as the translation
of the Syriac Ourapiscupo, giving the meaning of "Suffra'
gan Bishop."

The term Seng, being the transfer of the Sanskrit Sanga,
which is the common designation for Buddhist priests, is

* Wan keen twig kaou, voL 68, p. 14.

321

vised here in the title, where the composition is said to be
the work of King-tsing, Seng, "priest," of the Syrian church.
In Tae-tsung's proclamation, he orders that the Syrian
church in the E-ning Way be governed by twenty-one Seng,
The same word is used on six other occasions in the inscrip-
tion with the same meaning ; it is added to three names in
the subscription ; and fifty-nine names on the margin also
have this term prefixed. The word Kasiso is used in the
line of Syriac on the right side of the inscription, in the
name Adam Kasiso ; and five persons named in the Syriac
part of the subscription are termed Kasiso; twenty -eight
names on the margin also have this word appended. There
is no doubt about the identity of the Chinese Seng and the
Syriac Kasiso, the translation of both being "Priest."

On the inscription we read again, that about the year 713,
"there was the Seng-show, 'chief priest,' Lo-han, &c." In
another place, Lo-hang is called simply a Seng, but the pre-
vious quotation evidently marks a superior station in the
Church. Probably the Syriac of this term is to be found in
the subscription, where the priest Gabriel is called Risch or
" Ecclesiarch" of Cumdan and Sarag.

In Tae-tsung's proclamation, it is said, "The Ta-tih,
1 Greatly- virtuous,' Alopun of the kingdom of Syria, &c."
In an after part of the inscription, it is said that about the
year 713 there was "the Ta-tih Kie-leih, &c." Lower down,
the emperor Heuen-tsung is said to have commanded seven
priests " together with the Ta-tih Keih-ho, to perform a ser-
vice of merit, &c." Among the names on the margin, also,
there is one " Ta-tih Yaou-lun." This Ta-tih is a term of
very frequent occurrence in Buddhist books written during
and previous to the Tang, being applied as a title of cour-
tesy to the Buddhist priests. An instance occurs on the
tablet commemorative of the Indian Buddhist priest Puh-
kung, in Se-gan foo, which was erected the same year as the
Nestorian tablet, according to the dates. In the title, he is
called Ta-tih Ho-shang. We find something nearly corres-
ponding to this also, in the use of the Syriac prefix Mar,
"Lord." This occurs once in the single line down the left
side of the inscription, in Mar John Joshua ; twice in the
Syriac subscription, in the names Mar Jazedbuzid and Mar
Sergius ; and five times in the margin, in the names Mar
John, Mar Sergius three times, and Mar Joseph.

322

In the first instance where Alopun is mentioned on the
tablet, he is called the Shang-tih, " Most- virtuous," Alopun,
which appears to be merely an intensification of the pre-
ceding term.

Among the Chinese names on the margin is one styled
" Laou suh-ya Keu-mo," where the title is equivalent to our
" Doctor."

Some other Syriac titles occur among the names of eccle-
siastical dignitaries. On the left-side line, we find alia daba-
kotha Mar Hana Jesua katholika patrwrchis, " The Chief Fa-
ther, Lord John Joshua, the Universal Patriarch." The
identity of this with the title of the Patriarch of the Nesto-
riaiis is at once obvious.

In the subscription, we have " Gabriel, Arcodiakon, l Arch-
deacon;' " and the same title occurs again in the margin, in
" Aggeus, Priest and Arcodiakon of the city of Cumdan."

Again, in the subscription, there is "Adam, Meschamschono,
1 Deacon.' "

It is deserving of remark, also, how the author has con-
trived to vary his expressions in noting the several dates,
thus giving evidence of a master-hand in this style of com-
position. The first noticed is the arrival of Alopun, which
took place in Chin-kwan keu sze, " the ninth year of Chin-
kwan" this being the national name for the term of years
beginning with the reign of Tae-tsung, A. D. 627, making
the year in question 635. The word sze, which is employed
here for year, was the term used for that purpose during the
Shang, and is found in the history of that dynasty in the
Shoo-king, B. C. 1753.*

A little lower it is said, that Tae-tsung issued the procla-
mation in Shih urh nien tsew tsee yue, "the twelfth year,
autumn, in the seventh month." This corresponds to the
year A. D. 638. The word nien, which represents year
here, was first brought into use in the Chow dynasty, B. C.
1134. f

Again, it is stated, that " In Shing-le nien, 'the years of
Shing-le,' the Buddhists, gaining power, &c." Shing-k is
the name for the period commencing from the beginning of
the Chinese year corresponding to our 698, and ending on

* See Medhurst's Shoo-king, p. 140, <fec.
f See Medhurat's Shoo-king, p. 182.

323

the fourth day of the fifth month in 700.* This was the
fifteenth time the name had been changed during the reign
of the empress Woo Tsih-teen.

Immediately following the last quotation, we read, " In
Seen-teen mo, ' the end of Seen-teen,1 &c." We find that the
term Seen-teen lasted from the beginning of the eighth month
in 712 till the last day of the eleventh month in 713 ; being
just about the time of the accession of Heuen-tsung. On the
first day of the twelfth month, the name of the whole year
was changed to the " first of Kae-yuen" so that the name
Seen-teen is omitted in some of the national chronologies.

Again it is said, "In Teen-paou tsoo, 'the beginning of
Teen-paou,1 orders were given to the Great General Kaou
Leih-sze, &c." The term Teen-paou began on the first day
of the first month of the year answering to our 742, which
is no doubt the year alluded to here.

The next date mentioned is " In San tsae, ' the third year,'
the priest Keih-ho in the kingdom of Syria, &c." It is a
fact noted in the Chinese annals, that on the first day of the
third year of Teen-paou, 744, the word nien, " year," was
exchanged for tsae, which last continued to be used till the
fourth day of the second month of the first year of Keen-yuen,
758, when it was abandoned for nien by authority of the
emperor Suh-tsung. Tsae was the word used for year in the
time of the ancient emperors Yaou and Shun, upwards of
twenty-three centuries before the Christian era.f

The tablet is said to have been erected in Keen-chung urh
nien, suy tsae tso-yo, tae-tsuh yue, tseihjih, ta-yaou-san-wan jih,
"the second year of Keen-chung, the year being in the sign
tso-yo, the month tae-tsuh, seventh day, being ta-yaou-san-wan
day." The term Keen-chung began on the first day of the
Chinese year answering to our 780, which makes the date
on the stone, the second year, correspond to 781. The word
suy for "year1' appears to have been first used during the
Hea, twenty-two centuries before the Christian era4 When
the year is said to be in tso-yo, this is a tradition of an ancient
practice, according to which the year was chronicled by the
progress of the planet Jupiter through the twelve signs of the

* Where the date 699 is given above, it should be altered to correspond
to this.

f See Medhurst'a Shoe-king, p. 10.
j Ibid., p. 126.

VOL. v. 42

324

zodiac. As it was found that the course of Jupiter through
the whole circle occupied nearly twelve years, it was termed
suy sing, "the year star," each of the twelve years having a
special designation, according to the sign then occupied by the
planet. These twelve designations were made to correspond
with the terms of the duodenary cycle, Tsze, Chow, Yin, &c.,
and in order to counterbalance the deficiency caused by the
more rapid progress of Jupiter, one term of the cycle out of
every one hundred and forty -five was abandoned. But in
the course of time, the accelerated velocity of Jupiter showed
this to be insufficient, and, after the "Western Han, the terms
of the cycle were continued uninterruptedly, without regard
to the place of Jupiter in the heavens. The same phrase-
ology, however, has been preserved down to later times,
although the law that gave rise to it was lost to the Chinese
for many centuries, and has been only recently recovered by
the researches of modern native scholars. So that when this
formula is met with in Chinese documents later than the
Han, it is only to be taken as a synonym of the ordinary
terms of the cycle, and not as in any way indicative of the
place of Jupiter at the time given. The name tso-yo is the
equivalent of the term yew, the tenth in the cycle, being that
of the date 781. The meaning of these twelve ancient desig-
nations is now unknown to the Chinese.*

The month is here called Tae-tsuh. This is a vestige of
an extremely ancient terminology, to the origin of which it
would be difficult to give a date. Tae-tsuh is the name of
one of the twelve musical tubes ; but these were also, by a
special contrivance, used to determine the temperature of the
earth during the twelve months of the year, and the seasons
were fixed accordingly, f In an ancient calendar, Yue ling,
found in the Le ke, or Book of Eites, the Tae-tsuh is called
" the temperature tube of the first month of spring." Al-
though these names have now gone out of general use in
the calendar, the literati still frequently employ them as an
embellishment to their compositions. The seventh day of
this month is also called Ta-yaou-san-wan day. No satisfac-

* These are to be found in the Urh-ya, probably the most ancient diction-
ary in existence, composed more than a thousand years before the Christian
era.

f The names and proportions of these twelve tubes may be seen in Med-
hurst's Shoo-king, p. 21.

tory explanation of this term has been given ; it is possibly
the name of some day peculiar to the sect. Some have
given it as Sunday, which may be correct ; for we find by
calculation that the seventh day of the first month of that
year, being February 4th, actually fell on a Sunday. An
independent calculation of the same problem, by a Chinese,
according to the native method, giving the same result, may
be seen in the Hongkong Chinese Serial, Hea urh kwei chin,
for September, 1855.

A further means of verifying this date is given in the
Syriac at the foot, where the tablet is said to have been set
up "in the year of the Greeks one thousand and ninety-two."
There is no difficulty in identifying this date, for it is well
known that the Greek, or Syro-Macedonian era, being the
one used by the Syrians, Arabs, and Jews, commenced in
the autumn of the year B. C. 312.* So that the 312th
year of that era ended in the autumn of the year A. D. 1.
Carrying the series down to the February of 781 brings it to
about the middle of the year 1092 of the Greek era, exactly
agreeing with the statement on the tablet.

Among the various doctrinal subjects which are touched
upon in the introductory part of the inscription, there is
one especially deserving of notice, as furnishing strong pre-
sumptive evidence of the Nestorian origin of this monu-
ment, where we find the expression, Ngo san-yih fun-shin
king tsun Me-she-ho, " Our Triune, Divided-in-nature, Illus-
trious and Honorable Messiah ;" and again, in the ode, it is
said, Fun-shin chuh toe, "Divided in nature, he entered the
world." The occurrence of the term fun-shin, "Divided in
nature," twice in the inscription, is sufficient to attract atten-
tion, from the uncommon character of the expression ; but
when we remember the peculiar doctrines on account of
which the Nestorians separated from the church of Kome,
we can have very little doubt as to the origin of this term.
For, had the inscription been composed by partizans of the
Koman church, we cannot conceive that they would have
been so inconsiderate as to employ an expression which,
although by a forced interpretation they might accede to it,
yet would always be liable to construction in favor of the
doctrine which they termed heresy ; and that too just at

* See Prideaux's Old and New Testament connected, Yol. 1, p. 6l4i

326

the time when their opponents were making great efforts,
and spreading widely through the countries of the east,
For the same reason, there is as little ground to think that
it was composed by Eoman Catholics of later times, as some
are prone to believe ; for, had it been so, it is incredible that
they would designedly introduce an element calculated to
overthrow the fact it was their intention to establish. The
Jesuit Father Kircher has written a work to prove the gen-
uineness of this tablet, in which he speaks of the Syrian
preachers as tainted with the heresy of the detestable Nes-
torius.* The characters fun-shin cannot be taken in the
sense of "to give a body," as some have suggested; for
although in some cases fan may mean " to distribute," yet
the violence done to the language by such a rendering here
is too obvious to be admitted. The Chinese language is not
wanting in terms fully to express such an idea ; while, were
a concise term descriptive of the Nestorian tenet required,
it is doubtful whether a more adequate expression could be
selected than fun-shin.

It should be observed that, in the second of the above
phrases, the word toe is used instead of she, which is the usual
term ; this phraseology is peculiar to the Tang, and was em-
ployed in consequence of she being one of the characters
in the name of the emperor Tae-tsung ; his private name
being She-min, and Chinese etiquette requiring that no sub-
ject of that dynasty should make use of such characters.
This rule is observed even in the title of one of the suc-
ceeding emperors, who is designated Tae-tsung, while under
other circumstances his title would have been She-tsung.
The same remark will apply to a sentence in the former
part of the inscription, where it is said Tung jin chuh toe,
" he appeared in the world as a man."

It has been remarked that, for aught that there is peculiar
to Nestorianism, the account of the incarnation might as
well have proceeded from a partizan of the much disputed
appellation Theotokos. But it may be added that, if there
is nothing which can be viewed as peculiarly Nestorian in
the plain scriptural account which is given, /Shih neu tan
shing, " a virgin gave birth to the Holy one," there is at
least as little that can be taken controversially against the

* La Chine Illustrte, p. 76.

327

Nestorians, or even against the probability of its having
emanated from them.

A Buddhist influence is observable in the term employed
for "angel," Shin teen ; the teen being the generic name for
the various classes of Devas, or celestial beings, in the Bud-
dhist mythology, and the qualifying term shin marking the
essentially spiritual character of the agent.

Some interesting notes respecting the sacred Scriptures
are found in this inscription. After noticing the completion
of the ancient dispensation, it speaks of the "preservation
of twenty-seven Sacred Books, exactly the number we
have in the New Testament. It states further that when
Alopun arrived from Syria, "he brought the true Sacred
Books," and adds, "the Sacred Books were translated in the
imperial library." Tae-tsung also, in his proclamation,
states that " Alopun has brought his Sacred Books and im-
ages from Syria, and presented them at our chief capital."
In the ode, again, it is stated that " the Scriptures were trans-
lated, and churches built." From the prominent way in
which the Scriptures are here mentioned on several occa-
sions, it was probably considered a matter of importance
with these Nestorian missionaries to have them disseminated
among the Chinese. The mention of their being translated
under imperial surveillance harmonizes very accurately with
what history informs us of the state of translatorial labors
about that time under the imperial patronage, the Buddhist
traveller Heuen-tsang being engaged about the middle of the
seventh century in his arduous labors on the Buddhist books,
by special command. If the Scriptures were translated then,
and there is no reason to doubt it, it is possible that some
portion of this work may still be preserved in some of those
depositories of literary treasures with which China abounds ;
no evidence of such a fact, however, has come to light in
modern times. In the Lettres Edifiantes there is a notice
by Gaubil, in 1752, of a manuscript being found in the pos-
session of a Mohammedan, the descendant of Christian or
Jewish ancestors from the west, written in characters almost
the same as those on the Christian monument in Shen-se.
This was carefully copied, and the fac-simile forwarded to
Paris. It was afterwards examined by the Baron de Sacy,
who pronounced it to be part of the Syriac version of the
Old Testament, with hymns and prayers, written in the Es-
tranghelo character.

328

As the chief objector in modern times to the genuineness
of this tablet is C. F. Neumann, Professor of Chinese, it
may be well to glance at the objections which he brings for-
ward. He says,* "The authors of the inscription were
Syrians, or at least of Syrian origin, and were in constant
communication with the West : how then comes it, that
they describe Tatschin (the West) precisely as Chinese geog-
raphy under the Tang does ? Have the Spaniards and Por-
tuguese, the Dutch and English, in the monuments which
they have left on foreign soil, described Europe and their
father-land according to truth, or according to the fabulous
views of foreign nations ?" A very little reflection is suffi-
cient to remove any difficulty on this point. The Chinese,
from the earliest tunes, have always been careful to collect
what information they could obtain respecting foreign na-
tions, officers having been appointed whose special duty it
was to attend to this ; not indeed by long and perilous voy-
ages of discovery, but by minutely inquiring, of the envoys
from foreign parts, the national character and customs, the
distance and extent of the countries, and a variety of par-
ticulars respecting the kingdoms to which they severally
belonged ; 'all which were chronicled in the state archives,
every accession to the previous information being annexed
to the national history at the close of each dynasty. By
this means, together with the additional matter procured
by several native travellers who visited foreign parts, the
Chinese became possessed of a very respectable knowledge
of other Asiatic nations, at a time when geographical sci-
ence had certainly not made great progress in Europe ; and
indeed, to the present day, the most authentic account of
some countries is to be found in the Chinese annals. Had
the Nestorians, or other travellers from the west, during
the Tang, brought with them any additional information
of importance, the Chinese would certainly have availed
themselves of it. But there is no reason to conclude that,
because the authors of the inscription were of Syrian ori-
gin, they must therefore give an account of their father-
land different from that found in the Chinese books, when

* We rely upon Professor Salisbury's paper on the Nestorian tablet, for
the statement of these objections, which is given as a quotation from the
Jahrbucher fur wissenschaftliche Kritik, for 1880.

329

these books were correct in their general statements on the
subject. The presumption is, that they would rather prefer
such statements as the natives could at once recognize, thus
more easily directing attention to that country which it
was their object to point out. Although there may be some
difficulty now in recognizing the various national features
alluded to on the stone, yet there is no proof whatever that
it is a false record. The Mohammedans in China are very
numerous, and their ancestors were originally from the
west ; but we might look in vain among them for the pres-
ervation of any descriptions of the countries of their ances-
tors more authentic than other Chinese possess. The Jews
have been resident in China for a much longer period, but
no records have been preserved by them of the country
whence they came.

Neumann proceeds, " Have the Chinese ever called India
itself Tatschin, and was not the name given to the West,
at the period of the inscription, Fulin ?" It is not very ob-
vious with what view the Professor introduces this sentence,
as its tendency appears to be to nullify the force of the para-
graph above noticed. But as this point seems to be given up
in a later article from his pen, it is unnecessary to notice it,
farther than to remark that, although the name Fulin is
applied to that country in the Tang History, yet Ta-tsin was
the name by which it was generally known in the early
period of the dynasty, and down to much later times this
name was used, as can easily be proved by a reference to
native Chinese works of the period.

" Upon the chronological error in respect to the Syrian
patriarchs (of three years), we will lay no particular stress ;
Renaudot's ground is indeed untenable, for there was, espe-
cially under the Tang, much communication between east-
ern and western Asia." The error here hinted at is, that
the date given on the stone, both according to the Chinese
and the Syriac, being A. D. 781, February 4th, the name of
the oSTestorian Patriarch for the time is given as John Joshua,
or Ananjesus, while history states that this Patriarch died
in 778. It would be desirable to know at what period of
the year his death took place, as, were it about the end of
778, the time elapsed between that and the date on the
stone would not greatly exceed two years, instead of three ;
moreover, the probability is that this inscription was written

330

and cut some time before the date of its erection. Neumann
speaks of there being much communication between eastern
and western Asia during the Tang ; but, in view of the in-
formation that can now be obtained on this subject, there is
no ground to believe that reports were annually passing be-
tween Syria and China ; indeed, considering the difficulties
of such a hazardous enterprize, it is much more reasonable
to assume that the arrival of strangers from the far west
was a comparatively rare occurrence. Hence we see noth-
ing forced in Eenaudot's supposition that the tidings of the
Patriarch's death may not have reached the Christians in
China when the monument was erected. Assemani's refer-
ence also is much to the point, when he draws attention to
the fact that there is a letter now in the Vatican, which cer-
tain Nestorian bishops who had been sent to Malabar ad-
dressed to their Patriarch in Assyria about the year 1502,
when he had been dead already two years. Another in-
stance of a similar kind and more recent date may be cited,
as more calculated to excite surprise, and yet of undoubted
authenticity. Napier, the inventor of logarithms, died on
the 4th April, 1617. On the 28th July, 1619, more than
two years after his death, Kepler, who had not yet heard of
this event, addressed a letter to him describing the progress
of his astronomical tables, in consequence of the aid derived
from logarithmic computation. This letter is preserved in
the "Memoirs of John Napier of Murchiston," published in
Edinburgh, 1834.*

"But never, never, would a Chinese emperor, in a public
decree, have dared to say of a foreign doctrine : ' it must be
published throughout the land,' without stirring up a revolt
in the body of the nation, the Schukiao ; never has a Chi-
nese emperor caused the sacred Scriptures to be translated,
and made known through the whole empire (' he specially
commanded to publish it,' &c.); never has an emperor
caused a church to be built in his capital, and never were
there churches standing in every city. We deny all this so
decidedly, because in Chinese history, where even the slight-
est inclination of the emperors to the Taosse and Buddhists
is noticed, and blamed, not the remotest trace of it all is to

* This notice is taken from a review by Biot in the Journal des Savans for
March, 1835.

331

be found. And let it now be considered what an emperor
it is who found the doctrine of Olopen so excellent ; it is
the emperor who passes for a reinstator of the pure doctrine
of Kong-tse, who declared : ' there is no salvation out of the
doctrine of the perfect wise man.' " The above reasoning
no doubt appears very conclusive to the Professor, but, un-
fortunately for his argument, we have a fact at hand which
is of more weight than mere hypothesis. This imperial de-
cree, which is so offensive in his sight, is actually found in
almost the same terms in the forty-ninth volume of the Tang
liwuy yaou, Collection of Important Matters of the Tang, a
book published during the Sung, in 961, and now forming part
of the imperial library Sze koo chuen shoo, the highest guaran-
tee for its authenticity. The Ping-tsin suh pae ke, Ping-tsin
Supplementary Tablet Memorial, published in 1813, quotes*
this proclamation in full from the tablet, and adds, " This is
substantially the same as that contained in the Tang hwuy
yaou, except that the latter says ' the Po-sze, Persian, priest
Alopun,' Persia being the original name of the kingdom
of Ta-tsin. The Chang-gan die erroneously gives Alosze."
Neumann objects to the statement that there were " churches
standing in every city," but this is not exactly what the
stone says ; the expression is Choo chow, which may be trans-
lated " the various departments ;" as choo does not always
signify " without exception." Now this statement tallies re-
markably with the extract from the imperial edict by Heuen-
tsung, which we have already given, where it says, "let
this be complied with choofoo keun, 'through the various
departments. And the coincidence of the geographical
terms here may be again noticed. As before remarked, the
word chow was used from about 618 till 742, when it was
exchanged for foo and keun. The first quotation being in
the time of Kaou-tsung, who reigned from 650 to 683, it has
the word chow ; the second being in 745, the other terms are
used in the same sense, which furnishes a strong collateral
evidence of the truth of the former. Surely Professor Neu-
mann has not read Chinese history very attentively, if he
is ignorant of the great favors that have been conferred on
the Buddhists at various times by the Chinese emperors;
and in particular that this very Tae-tsung, whom he looks

* VoL 1, p. 16.

VOL. V. 43

332

upon as " the reinstator of the pure doctrine of Confucius,"
received with honors the Buddhist Heuen-tsang on hia
return from his travels, with more than six hundred of the
Indian Buddhist sacred books, which this emperor set him
to get translated, under his own immediate patronage.*

The fact that the Nestorian religion existed in China for
many centuries is established upon such abundant evidence,
and is so generally credited, that it would be superfluous
to adduce any proof in answer to the doubts thrown out by
Neumann ; neither are the Syrian writers altogether silent
on the subject, as his remarks would imply.

The last argument brought forward by the " leader of the
opposition," as Professor Salisbury terms him, is "that both
the Chinese and the Syriac characters of the inscription are
modern, not such as were in use in the eighth century."
Neumann is certainly a bold man to stake his sinological
reputation on this statement. Were there no other evi-
dence to testify to the genuineness of this inscription, still
the style of the hand-writing would form an overpowering
argument in its favor with every Chinese of any literary
pretension. There is probably no people in the world who
pay so much attention to the various delicate distinctions of
different hands ; so that it is difficult for a foreigner to un-
derstand the minute shades of touch by which they are able
to classify, with an accuracy truly astonishing, not merely
the several dynasties, but the various schools of writing
under each dynasty. A long list of names is on record of
those who have distinguished themselves in this art, from
very early times down to the present day ; and few Chinese
gentlemen of any taste would think of being without a set
of impressions taken from stone tablets, as specimens of their
works. There is a class of caligraphers who make a partic-
ular study of these old specimens, and pride themselves on
being able to imitate them with a great degree of accuracy ;
and none are more highly esteemed or closely studied than
the productions of the Tang artists ; yet with all their care
and practice, it is generally admitted that a modern imitation
by the most skilful hand can never deceive a connoisseur.
One of the most famous of this class in modern times, named
Wang Wan-che, has written a work called Kwae-yu tang te

* Tsihfoo yuen Icwei, vol. 61, p. 17.

333

po, Kwae-yu Hall Notes and Postscripts, containing noti-
ces of the most approved specimens of hand-writing, ancient
and modern. On the tenth page of the third volume, noticing
the Nestorian inscription, he says, " This tablet, inscribed by
Lew Sew-yen, is a specimen of the style chiefly aimed at by
Chaou Yung luh, and is distinguished among the hand-writ-
ings of the Tang for its extreme clearness, softness, elegance,
and richness. The strokes of the characters on the tablet
are slender, and not cut to a great depth ; but the people of
Shen-se, in rubbing impressions from it, have always lost
sight of the excellence of its character, in consequence of
the rarity of those who are clever at this work. When I
paid a visit to Se-gan, Peih Tsew-fan holding office in Shen-
se that same year, he took a general superintendence of the
ancient tablets ; this tablet was removed to the Kin-ching
monastery, where he caused a building to be erected in
which it was deposited, and gave it in charge to the head
priest King-kwan, that people from other parts might not
take impressions at pleasure. Having selected an expert
workman, I had several fine impressions taken, and having
obtained the exact form, I became conscious of a superiority
in it which the former copies did not exhibit." These re-
marks are deserving of attention, as coming from a scholar
who had attained the very highest rank. A great number
of impressions must have been taken from this stone, for
they are to be found in almost every city for sale, and
every literary man of any standing knows the character
of this inscription, and recognizes it as soon as he hears the
name ; and when the suggestion is made to the natives of
the probability that it is a forgery, the unanimous reply is
that such a thing was never known in China, and, further-
more, that it could not possibly pass undetected ; or, were it
attempted to pass off the Nestorian tablet for any date prior
to, or later than, the Tang, it would be in vain, for the hand-
writing would at once betray the period to which it belonged.
With respect to the Syriac portion of the inscription, Pro-
fessor Salisbury will be admitted to be a competent witness,
and we have it upon his authority that "the characters are
unquestionably Estranghelo, Neumann's declaration to the
contrary notwithstanding;"* nor will he be looked upon as

* On the Genuineness of the so-called Nestorian Monument, p. 410.

334

one biased in favor of the tablet, since he gives it as his
opinion "that the Jesuits of China could, probably, have
had the Syriac part of it made up in India."*

Not only are the Chinese characters formed in exact ac-
cordance with every specimen of the period in question,
but the evidence arising from the style of the composition
is equally conclusive. The terse antithetic style of the
Tang writers, with the extreme paucity of particles, forms a
very conspicuous stage in the history of Chinese literature ;
and rare indeed is the attainment of those who are able to
imitate it. The differences in style between the writers of
various ages are so extremely well defined in China, that it
would be a very hazardous undertaking for any one to try
to pass off his work for that of a former age, and it would
be no common production that should pass muster before the
keen practised eyes of native critics. The peculiarities of
the Tang style are found very clearly marked in the Nesto-
rian inscription, so as to afford the most convincing proof
to the minds of native scholars. The influence of the three
national religious sects may be traced in the phraseology.
That the author was one of the literary class there is no
room to doubt, as the work bespeaks one well versed in
Confucian lore; while the various transfers, and marked
allusions to a foreign faith, must give it an air of mystery
to Chinese readers in general. This mystery, however,
disappears to one who is acquainted with Christian doc-
trines ; and he finds the tenets of the Christian faith clothed
in an elegance of diction unobjectionable even to Chinese
taste. Throughout the whole, there is an evident inclina-
tion to Buddhism, in the nomenclature adopted for the vari-
ous ecclesiastical institutions; while Taouist phraseology
and ideas are conspicuous in the imperial proclamation.
This last peculiarity will be observed in most of the decrees
of the Tang emperors, and is to be accounted for by the
fact, that the imperial family looked upon Laou-keun, the
founder of Taouism, as their ancestor, the name of both
being Le.

We have thus glanced at the several points of evidence
which appear to us most conspicuous, leaving out of view
what is said on the subject by adherents of the Christian

* On the Genuineness of the so-called Nestorian Monument, p. 409.

335

faith, foreign or native. We have given extracts from sev-
enteen different native authors (and the number might be
easily enlarged) respecting this tablet, each of whom has
something peculiar to say regarding it ; but we have not
been able to discover the slightest hint of a suspicion as to
its genuineness or authenticity. The discovery also in a
book of the Sung dynasty of the imperial proclamation it
contains, and the record in two different works, one of the
Sung and one of the Tang, of the existence of a foreign
temple in the very spot indicated on the tablet, form a spe-
cies of corroboration not to be overlooked ; while the testi-
mony of these works as to other foreign temples about that
time is valuable collateral evidence.

The Chang-gan che, quoting from the earlier work, gives
a summary of the religious edifices in that city during the
Tang, viz. : "64 Buddhist monasteries, 27 Buddhist nunne-
ries, 10 Taouist monasteries, 6 Taouist nunneries, 2 Persian
temples, and 4 chapels of the Heaven- worshippers."* The
imperial edict of 746, which is to be found in several Chi-
nese books, speaks unmistakably of the increase of these
foreign religions in China. By a decree issued in 845 by
the emperor Woo-tsung, " all those belonging to the Ta-tsin,
' Syrian,' and Muh-hoo, ' Mohammedan,' religious orders were
commanded to retire to private life, and such foreigners as
might be among them to return to their own countries, "f

In a narrative given by two Arabian travellers, it is stated
that 120,000 Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and Par-
sees were slain during a revolution at Canfu in China, in
the year 877. These Christians must certainly have been
Nestorians. During succeeding ages, the Nestorians of China
are mentioned on various occasions by Kubruquis, Plan Car-
pin, Marco Polo, and others ; and when the zealous Eoman
Catholic friar John de Monte Corvino arrived in China, in the
thirteenth century, at the commencement of the Yuen, he met
with a good deal of opposition from this party, some curious
details respecting which are given in a MS. recently discov-
ered in the Imperial Library at Paris. It is there said : "In
the city of Cambalech there is a sort of Christian schismatics
whom they call Nestorians. They observe the customs and
manners of the Greek Church, and are not obedient to the
Holy Church of Eome aforesaid." "These Nestorians, dwell-

* VoL 7, p. 6. f Rung-keen luh, vol. 9, p. 7.

336

ing in the said empire of Cathay, number more than 80,000,
and are very rich ; but many of them fear the Christians.
They have very beautiful and very holy churches, with
crosses and images in honor of God and of the saints. They
receive from the said emperor several offices, and he grants
them many privileges, and it is thought that if they would
consent to unite and agree with these Minorites, and with
other good Christians who reside in this country, they might
convert the whole of this country and the emperor to the
true faith." Even down to the sixteenth century, traces of the
existence of these people may be found. So that, could any
sufficient argument be adduced to show that this monument
was fabricated by the Jesuits during the Ming dynasty, as
some have asserted, it would still remain to be explained
what could be their object in so doing. Were it merely to
prove the existence of Christians in China during the seventh
and eighth centuries, that was already amply proved from
other sources. Was it to give the sanction of antiquity to
the peculiar dogmas of their church ? That could scarcely
be ; for we find no distinguishing characteristic of the Roman
Catholic religion on it, which is not applicable to other Chris-
tian communities. Had that been their object, however; it is
scarcely credible that they would have left so much on this
point to mere inference, • while they have descended to so
many minutiae, on apparently irrelevant matters, thus in-
volving themselves to a high degree in the risk of detection,
by details of persons, places, and events, which, while they
come with a natural air from a contemporary, would never
repay the care and research which they would require on the
part of a forger living eight or nine hundred years after the
event. And yet it is remarkable that the more closely these
various assailable points on the tablet are looked into, the
more full and minute do we find the coincidence of times
and circumstances.

With respect to the form of the writing, and the style of
the composition, any one living in China can have no diffi-
culty in making up his mind on that subject; as indeed he
may on every other part of the evidence ; a careful attention
to which will probably bring every one to the conviction of
that which no Chinese has ever doubted, that, if the Nes-
torian tablet can be proved a forgery, there are few existing
memorials of by-gone dynasties which can withstand the
same style of argument.

AETICLE III.

THE AVEST A,

THE SACEED SCKIPTUKES

ZOROASTRIAN RELIGION,

WILLIAM D. WHITNEY,

PBOFESSOB OF SANSKBIT IN TALE COLLEGE.

(Read October 18, 1854.)

ON THE A VEST A.*

UNTIL within a little more than a hundred years, the
classic authors had been almost our only authorities for the
ancient history, manners, and customs of Persia. Their in-
sufficiency was painfully felt. Long and intimate as had
been the intercourse of the Greeks with the Oriental Empire,
the information which they had left on record respecting its
institutions but half satisfied an enlightened curiosity. They
gave us only a picture of that power which had suddenly
risen in the west of Iran, upon the ruins of yet more ancient
empires, adopting in part their culture, and along with this
their corruptions and vices also ; so that it had sunk again
into ruins, after a brief though splendid existence of about
three centuries. Later, they told us somewhat of the external
fates of the various realms into which Alexander's eastern
conquests were divided ; and yet later, the Roman and By-
zantine annals spoke of conflicts with Parthian and Sassanian
monarchs, not always resulting to the honor of the European
power. And, for more modern times, Mohammedan writers
related the story of the conquest of Iran, and the extinction
of its ancient customs and religion. These were all of them
the accounts of foreigners. There was also in existence a
modern Persian literature, of abundant extent and rich in
beauties, which professed to give a view of the nation's
fates from the earliest times ; but the account which it fur-
nished was epic and traditional, unaccordant with what we
knew from other sources, incapable of reduction to the form
of true history ; and, since it was produced under Mohamme-

* This article was first read before the Society Oct. 18, 1854, but has been
partially rewritten, so as to be brought down to the present time.
VOL. T. 44

340

dan influences, it could not possibly reflect a faithful picture
of native Persian institutions and character. But a century
ago an entirely new avenue of access to the knowledge of
Iranian antiquity was opened. The western world was
then for the first time made acquainted with the A vesta,
the ancient and authoritative record of the Iranian religion,
the Bible of the Persian people. Here was a source lying
beyond and behind anything hitherto accessible. It was of
a remote antiquity, claimed to be the work of Zoroaster
himself, the well-known founder of the Persian religious
belief, the prophet and the legislator of Iran, the establisher
of the earliest institutions respecting which our other inform-
ants had given us any account : it was a part of a native
literature, in which we might expect to read the national
character with much more distinctness and truth than in
the descriptions of foreigners: and it antedated, and was
independent of, any external influences upon Persian civili-
zation. Its introduction to our knowledge changed the
whole ground of investigation into Persian antiquity. In
it was to be found the key to the true comprehension of the
subject : bv it other sources of information were to be tested,
their credibility established or overthrown, their deficiencies
supplied. Something of this work has been now already
accomplished, but much more yet remains to be done. The
investigation is still in its first stages ; its materials have
been only partially accessible, and the number of laborers
upon them small ; its importance has been but imperfectly
appreciated ; nor until very lately have the means and meth-
ods of archaeological research been so far perfected, that the
new material could be intelligently taken up and mastered.
It is not possible, then, to give here a full statement of the
results derivable from the A vesta for the knowledge of Per-
sian antiquity. The present, however, is a point of time at
which it seems particularly appropriate to make a general ex-
amination of the subject, and to take a view of the condition
in which the investigation lies. For the ancient text itself,
with all the aids to its understanding which the Orient can
furnish, is just now published, and placed within reach of
scholars throughout the world : the study which has hitherto
been limited to a few is thus thrown open to general com-
petition, and may accordingly be expected to make surer
and more rapid advances. It will be the object then, of

341

•

this paper, to trace out the history of the introduction to
modern knowledge of the writings in question, and of the
study and labor which has since been expended upon them;
and farther, to give such a view of the general results won
and to be won from and respecting them, as shall serve to
illustrate their character and importance.

The Pars! communities dwelling on the western coast of
India have been the medium through which the ancient Per-
sian scriptures have come into our possession. Before we
proceed, therefore, to a consideration of the latter, it will be
well to go a little farther back, and inquire how the seat of
the Zoroastrian religion and culture came to be removed from
Persia to a land of strangers. It is an interesting and curi-
ous history.

The Parthian dynasty had for some centuries held sway
in Persia, when, A. D. 229, it was overthrown and replaced
by the Sassanian. % This was a native Persian family ; its
monarchs made themselves the protectors and patrons of
whatever was peculiarly Persian, revived the ancient customs
and religion, and raised the realm to a pitch of power and
glory hardly exceeded even in its palmiest days : but they
sank, A. D. 636, before the fanatical valor of the Mohamme-
dan Arabs, then just entering upon their career of almost
universal conquest. Now began the work of extinguishing,
by more or less violent means, the native religion and insti-
tutions. It was not accomplished at once ; for a long time
indications of a vigorous, though ineffectual, resistance on
the part of the Persians to the political and religious servi-
tude into which their nationality was being forced, are to be
discovered in the Mohammedan histories : but it was by
degrees repressed and broken ; and at last, probably some-
time during the ninth century, a community of those who
still would hold fast to the ancient faith took refuge from
persecution among the mountains of Kohistan, on the west-
ern border of the present Beluchistan. Thence, after a resi-
dence of near a hundred years, they were either hunted or
frighted, and betook themselves to the island Ormus, in the
strait of the same name, between the Persian Gulf and that
of Oman. But the}^ remained here only fifteen years, and
then, sailing southeastward along the coast, settled upon the
island of Diu, off the peninsula of Gfuzerat. Once more,
after an interval of rest of nineteen years, they embarked

342

with their effects, and, crossing the Gulf of Cambay, finally
established themselves on the main land, in the neighbor-
hood of Surat, and their wanderings were at length at an
end. Such is the account which their own traditions furnish
us ;* but it has been conjecturedf that commercial connec-
tions led the way from Persia to India, and at least estab-
lished there the nucleus of a Pars! community, to which
those afterwards resorted who left their country for the sake
of the undisturbed exercise of their religion. In their new
home they lived at first in quiet and prosperity, by the suf-
ferance and under the protection of the mild and tolerant
Hindus. But in the eleventh century their old foes, the Mo-
hammedans, found them out once more ; they shared the fate
of their Indian protectors, after aiding in the vain resistance
these offered to the invaders : they were oppressed and scat-
tered, but not this time driven away ; and their descendants
still inhabit the same region. They have adopted the lan-
guage of those among whom they are settled, but have ad-
hered steadfastly to their own religion and customs. They
have retained, too, among the dark and listless Hindus and
Mohammedans, the light complexion, and the active habit
of mind and body, which belonged to them in their more
northern home. They are the "Armenians" of India, the
most enterprising and thriving portion of its Asiatic popu-
lation, and have so prospered, especially since the establish-
ment of English supremacy brought freedom and security
for the arts of peace, that they are now a wealthy and influ-
ential community. They had brought with them originally
their sacred books ; they had lost a part of them during the
disturbances which attended the Mohammedan conquest,
but were supplied anew from the brethren whom they had
left behind in Kerman. With these they long kept up a
correspondence, acknowledging them as their own superiors
in the knowledge of the common faith, obtaining their ad-
vice from time to time on doubtful points of doctrine or
practice, and receiving from them books or teachers. These
Persian communities of Gebers, however, it should be added,
who were thus only a century ago regarded as the highest

* See Eastwick, on the Kissah-i-Sanjan, in the Journal of the Bombay So-
ciety, vol. i. p. 167, etc.
f See Westergaard's Zendavesta, preface, p. 22.

843

authority in matters affecting the Zoroastrian religion, have
since rapidly wasted away under the continuance of the
same oppressions which had earlier driven their fellow -be-
lievers to emigrate. They were visited in 1843, at Kerman
and Yezd, their two chief seats, by Westergaard,* for the
express purpose of examining into their condition, and of
endeavoring to obtain from them copies of any valuable
manuscripts which might be in their possession. He found
them in the lowest state of decay, especially at Kerman, and
fast becoming extinct by conversion to Mohammedanism.
They had almost lost the knowledge of their religion ; they
had but a few manuscripts, and among these nothing that
was not already known; they had forgotten the ancient
tongues in which their scriptures were written, and were
able to make use only of such parts of them as were trans-
lated into modern Persian; they could not, however, be
induced to part with anything of value. In another cen-
tury, then, the religion of Zoroaster will probably have be-
come quite extinct in its native country, and will exist only
in its Indian colony ; but it has lived long enough to trans-
mit as an everlasting possession to the after world all that
has for centuries been in existence of the old and authentic
records of its doctrines ; and, having done that, its task may
be regarded as fulfilled, and its extinction as a matter of
little moment.

We are now prepared to return, and inquire into the in-
troduction of the writings in question to the knowledge of
Europe.

The movement commenced with the beginning of the
eighteenth century, and the first step of it may be said
to have been the publication, in 1700, of Hyde's Veterum
Persarum et Magorum Religionis Historia, which first
taught the learned to seek for contributions from Oriental
sources to the knowledge of the subject furnished by the
classical historians. Hyde knew that votaries of the Per-
sian religion still existed both in Persia and in India, and
that they were in possession of what they asserted to be
their ancient and original scriptures ; he even had in his
hands portions of the latter ; but he was unable to make
any use of them, from ignorance of the language in which

* See his letter to Wilson, in Jour. Roy. As. Society, viii. 349.

they were written. India was at that period rapidly becom-
ing opened to European, and especially to English enter-
prise, and Parsi manuscripts continued to be brought, from
time to time, from the settlements about Surat, so that by
1740 more than one copy of all, or nearly all, their reli-
gious writings had been deposited in the Oxford libraries ;
but they were still as books sealed with seven seals to the
knowledge of Europeans. It was a Frenchman, the cele-
brated Anquetil-Duperron, whose zeal and devotion first
rendered their meaning intelligible. He was in Paris, in
1754, a very young man, pursuing Oriental studies with ar-
dor at the Royal Library, when a few lines traced from one
of the Oxford manuscripts chanced to fall under his eye,
and he at once formed the resolution, a somewhat wild and
chimerical one, as it seemed, to go to Persia or India, and
bring back to his native country these ancient works, and
the knowledge necessary to their interpretation. But there
was perseverance and energy, as well as enthusiasm and
ardor, in his character, and he showed the former qualities
as remarkably in the execution of his project as the latter
in its conception. All the influences at his command he set
in motion, to procure him the means of transit to the East,
and of support while engaged in his studies there. As,
however, success seemed to his impatient spirit neither near
nor sure enough, he determined to enlist as a private soldier
in the Indian Company's service, certain thus of being con-
veyed across the ocean, and trusting to the future for the rest.
And he actually marched out of Paris on foot with his com-
pany, in November, "to the lugubrious sound," as he says,
"of an ill-mounted drum." But upon his arrival, ten days
later, at L'Orient, he found that his resolution and devotion
had in the meantime met with due appreciation : he received
his discharge from military service, a pension of five hun-
dred francs, free passage in one of the Company's vessels,
and promise of aid and support in the carrying out of his
purposes. He landed at Pondicherry August 10th, 1755.
Many obstacles intervened, however, to delay his success,
arising partly from the unsettled, or actually hostile, relations
between the French and the English, whose career of con-
quest was just then commencing, but in considerable meas-
ure likewise from his own lack of prudence and steadiness
of purpose : so that almost three years had passed away be-

345

fore lie had fairly commenced his labors. The interval
was not entirely lost ; he acquired knowledge enough of
Persian and other eastern languages to be of essential ser-
vice to him in the farther pursuit of his studies, and jour-
neyed extensively about the Indian peninsula, from Pondi-
cherry up the coast to Bengal, and thence all the way around
to Surat, by land ; the history of these travels, as well as of
his whole residence in. India, is given in the first volume of
his Zend-Avesta. He finally reached Surat, the scene of
his proper labors, and his home for three years, on the first
of May, 1758. Already while he was in Bengal, it had
been signified to him by the Chef of the French station in
Surat, to whom he had made known his wishes, that certain
Parsi priests there were ready to constitute themselves his
instructors, and to communicate to him their sacred books,
and the knowledge of the languages in which these were
written. Dissensions among the Parsis themselves had aided
in bringing about this willingness to initiate a foreigner into
the mysteries of their religion, which they had hitherto kept
secret against more than one attempt to penetrate them.
They were divided into two parties in reference to certain
reforms which the better instructed part of the priesthood
were endeavoring to introduce, and, as the conservative fac-
tion had connections with the Dutch, their antagonists de-
sired to ingratiate themselves with the French ; they sought,
accordingly, to gain their support, by making promises, the
fulfilment of which they hoped would never be called for,
and were very much disinclined to grant, when Anquetil
actually appeared to claim it. By various means, however ;
by liberality in the purchase of manuscripts and payment
for instruction, by politic management, by intimidation even,
the course of instruction was at last fairly initiated ; confi-
dence and frankness then gradually succeeded to mistrust
and reticence, as the priests witnessed with admiration the
zeal and rapid progress of their pupil, and as the habit of
communication wore away their natural shyness of discov-
ering, to unsympathizing foreigners, matters which to them-
selves seemed sacred : this had, in reality, been the only ob-
stacle in the way of their free disclosure, and has since that
time been entirely removed. Anquetil succeeded in ob-
taining a complete copy, in some instances more than one; of
all the texts in their possession, and made collations of them

346

with others. He then labored his way through their inter-
pretation with his teacher, the Destur Darab, carefully re-
cording everything, and comparing, so far as he was able,
parallel passages, in order to satisfy himself of the good
faith and trustworthiness of his authority. As their medium
of communication they made use of the modern Persian.
He visited moreover their temple, witnessed their religious
ceremonies, and informed himself respecting their history,
their general condition, customs, and opinions. In Septem-
ber, 1760, he had thus completed to the best of his ability
the task he had originally imposed upon himself, and was
preparing to undertake another work which he had also had
in view, the study of Sanskrit, and the acquisition and trans-
lation of the Vedas, when the capture of Pondicherry by
the English, and the general breaking up of the French
power and influence in India, compelled him to relinquish
his farther plans, and to return home. This he did in an
English vessel, upon which passage and protection had been
granted him by the English authorities. He finally reached
Paris March loth, 1762, after an absence of more than seven
years. He tarried in England by the way only long enough
to make a brief visit to Oxford, and to ascertain by a com-
parison of the manuscripts there with his own, that they
contained nothing which he had not also in his possession.
He deposited in the Royal Library in Paris a complete set
of the texts which had been the main objects of his expedi-
tion, and immediately commenced preparing for publication
the history of his labors, and full translations of the whole
body of the sacred writings. The work appeared in 1771,
in three quarto volumes, with the title Zend-Avesta, Ouv-
rage de Zoroastre, &c. Besides this, he published in the
French literary journals various extended and important
treatises on special points in Iranian antiquity and history.

We shall not be prepared to pass intelligent judgment
upon Anquetil's labors, or to estimate their absolute value,
until we have inquired somewhat farther into the char-
acter and history of the writings which were their subject,
and the authority of the interpretation which they repre-
sented, and have marked the course pursued by the later
studies. So much as this is already evident, however ;
that the credit cannot be denied him of having undertaken
from lofty and disinterested motives, and carried out with

347

rare energy against obstacles of no ordinary character, the
work of procuring for Europe the Iranian scriptures, the al-
leged works of Zoroaster, with what light their then pos-
sessors were capable of throwing upon their meaning; of
having, moreover, brought a valuable supply of materials
within reach of other scholars, and powerfully directed the
public attention and interest toward the study. The recep-
tion which his published results met with was of a very
varied character : while they were hailed by some with en-
thusiasm, by others they were scouted at and despised. An-
quetil had, indeed, both provoked opposition and attack,
and laid himself open to them ; he was arrogant and con-
ceited, and neither a thorough scholar nor a critic of clear
insight and cool judgment : he had drawn upon himself the
especial displeasure of the English scholars by the depre-
ciating and contemptuous manner in which he had spoken
of some among them, and they revenged themselves upon
him and his book together. A violent controversy arose :
William Jones, then a very young man, led the way, and was
followed by Richardson and others. They maintained that
both the language and the matter of the pretended Zoroastrian
scriptures were a forgery and a fabrication, palmed off upon
the credulous and uncritical Anquetil by his Parsi teachers ;
or that, even supposing them genuine, they were of so tri-
fling and senseless a character, that the labor of rescuing
them had been a lost one. Into the details of this contro-
versy it is not necessary for us to enter ; its whole basis and
method was far below that which any similar discussion
would now occupy, and we should find neither in the learn-
ing nor the spirit of the one side or the other anything
which we could admire or which would edify us. The
time was not yet come for a proper appreciation of the task
which Anquetil had undertaken, or of the manner in which
he had executed it. The real weaknesses and imperfections
of his work remained unsuspected, until, after an interval
of more than fifty years, the study of the texts was again
taken up, under new and much more favorable auspices.
The Sanskrit language had in the meantime become the
property of science ; only through its aid was a scientific
investigation of the Zoroastrian writings possible, and with-
out it our knowledge of them must ever have remained in
much the same state as that in which Anquetil had left it.

VOL. v. 45

348

Before we enter upon the history of the later labors upon
these texts, it will be advisable to take a somewhat particular
view of the texts themselves, as regards the various circum-
stances of their extent and division, the character of their
contents, their language, locality, and period, and the history
of their collection and conservation.

The sacred canon is made up of several separate portions,
differing in age, origin, and character. Foremost among
them is the Yagna (called by Anquetil Izeschne). The name
is identical with the Sanskrit yajna, signifying " offering,
sacrifice," and has the same meaning. It well expresses
the nature of the writings to which it is applied ; these form
a kind of liturgical collection of offerings or ascriptions of
praise and prayer to the various objects of worship of the
Iranian religion. The Ya9na is composed of seventy-two
distinct pieces, called Has ; there is, however, another and
more general division, into two portions, of which the first
contains twenty-seven Has, the second forty-five. Between
these two parts exists a marked difference of external and
internal character ; the second is written in a dialect differ-
ing perceptibly, although only slightly, from that of all the
rest of the sacred writings, and evidently of greater an-
tiquity :* it is also in great part metrical (this important fact
has but recently been recognized), and seems to be a body
of religious lyrics, not unlike in character to the Vedic
hymns. Owing to the difficulty and obscurity of its lan-
guage and contents, it has been less thoroughly investigated
than any other part of the texts ;f but revelations of a
highly interesting and striking nature are to be expected
from it. It is doubtless the most ancient part of the canon :
this is clearly indicated as well by the antiquity of its dia-
lect, as by the circumstance that the prayers and invoca-
tions of which the recitation is elsewhere prescribed are all
contained in it. It is far from improbable that a part, at
least, of these most highly venerated forms of worship may
go back to the time of Zoroaster himself; it is only among
them, at any rate, that records so ancient and original could
be looked for. The first part of the Ya9na is of an interest

* See Spiegel, in "Weber's Indische Studien, I. 803.

f Dr. Haug has translated and commented on one of the hymns in the
Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morg. Gesellsch., vols. vii. viii.

349

less special : it is in good part made up of a bare rehearsal
of the names and attributes of the sacred personages, with
general ascriptions of praise and offerings of homage to
them : some of the Has, however, possess more individuality
and importance.

Of much the same style and character as this first part of
the Ya9na is the Vispered. The etymology and meaning of
the name are not entirely clear : it has been derived from
vispereta, "scattered;" to be understood, probably, of the
dispersal of its invocations in the air. It is divided into
twenty-three Kardes (sections), and in extent is hardly more
than a seventh of the Yagna. The Yagna and Vispered are
combined with one another and with a third text, the Yen-
diddd, to make up a liturgical collection which is much used
in the Parsi ceremonial, and which is generally known as
the Vendiddd-Sdde : this name, however, is not significant of
anything essentially characterizing the collection, but sim-
ply denotes it as " unmixed" (sdde meaning " pure") with the
translations into a later dialect which usually accompany
each text when written by itself. The combination is in
such wise that with the twenty-seven Has of the first part
of the Yagna are intermingled twelve Kardes of the Vis-

§ered : here takes place the first introduction of the Vendi-
ad, whose twenty-two chapters (called Fargards) are thence-
forth variously combined with the remaining divisions of
the other two works. The principle upon which the aggre-
gation has been formed, if any there be, has not been pointed
out.

The Vendidad is a work of a very different nature from
those already noticed : while they are chiefly doctrinal and
devotional, this is practical and prescriptive, constituting the
moral and ceremonial code of the Zoroastrian religion. The
name is a corruption of the title vi-daeva-ddta, "the law
against the demons" or " established against the Devs." It
teaches by what means a man may keep himself from such
sin and impurity as give the powers of evil dominion over
him. The impurity thus provided against, however, is
chiefly of a ceremonial character, resulting from intercourse
with things unclean and defiling, especially from contact
with a dead body ; and the bulk of the work consists of a
series of very minute directions as to how personal purity
may be guarded against such dangers, or recovered when

350

lost. Besides these, there are precepts more properly moral :
various offences against the divine powers are rehearsed,
their comparative enormity estimated, and the atonement
demanded for each prescribed: on the other hand, that
course of conduct is depicted which is most grateful to the
eyes of the divine powers, and most tends to secure their
favor : no little space, also, is devoted to rules for the treat-
ment of the dog, which this religion regards as a sacred
animal. The whole is in the form of colloquies between
Ormuzd (Ahura- Mazda), the supreme deity, and Zoroaster
(Zarathustra), who inquires of the former respecting each
particular point, and receives in reply the laws which he is
to publish to mankind. The same colloquial form, or that
of an inquiry by the prophet at the divine oracle, is occa-
sionally found also in other parts of the texts. To this
body of ceremonial directions, however, have become ap-
pended, at the beginning and at the end, certain other chap-
ters, which are by no means the least interesting of the
whole collection. Thus, the first Fargard gives a detailed
account of the countries created by the supreme being, and
furnishes very valuable indications respecting the knowl-
edge of geography possessed by the people among whom it
originated, and respecting the geographical position which
they themselves occupied : the second describes the reign of
Yima upon the earth, and his preparation of an abode of
happiness for a certain part of mankind ; illustrating in a
striking manner the relation of the ancient Persian and In-
dian religions, and throwing light upon the modern Persian
tradition of the earliest period of their own history. The last
five Fargards are mainly an assemblage of fragments, in
part entirely disconnected and unintelligible; the longest
and most interesting of them (which Spiegel has made the
subject of one of his earlier studies in the Miinchener Gel.
Anzeigen), describes the attempts of the evil spirits to de-
stroy or corrupt Zoroaster ; he, however, defies their malice
and despises their temptations, and they sink confounded
into the darkness.

Next in extent and importance are the Yeshts. The name
is from the same root as Ya9na, and nearly identical with
it in meaning. They are twenty-four pieces, of very differ-
ent length, each addressed to one of the persons or objects
held in veneration by the Zoroastrian faith. The longest

351

and most important ate those of the fountain Ardvi-Qura,
of the star Tistrya, of Mithra, of the Fervers, or souls of the
dead, of the Amshaspand Behram. Each is an exaltation
of the object to which it is addressed, accompanied with
prayers for blessings and the offerings of homage and wor-
ship. They are either direct addresses, or in the form already
described, of replies made by Ahura-Mazda to the inquiries
of his prophet respecting the merits of the several person-
ages to be honored, and the mode and degree of reverence
which should be paid to each. Besides the general light
which they thus throw upon the religion of whose sacred
records they constitute a part, more than one of them have
a particular value as illustrating the epic and heroic tradi-
tions of the period in which they were composed. It is re-
counted, namely, how this and that person had paid adora-
tion to the divinity whose exaltation is the theme of the
Yesht, and had received in recompense certain gifts or favors.
The personages thus mentioned greet us again among the
heroes of the modern epic and historical traditions, as rep-
resented especially by the gigantic poem of Firdusi, the
Shah-Nameh ; and the epithets by which they are charac-
terized, and the favors granted them, in many instances fur-
nish ground for a comparison between the forms of the pop-
ular tradition held concerning them in earlier and in later
times.

The remaining portions of the sacred writings are not of
consequence enough to require any special description. They
are, briefly, the five Nydyish, so called, pieces not unlike
the Yeshts, from which they seem to be in part extracted ;
the Oahs and Si-ruzeh, praises and adorations paid to the di-
visions of the day and the days of the month ; Aferms and
Afergans, praises and thanksgivings ; and a few small frag-
ments, prayers for special occasions, and the like.

The whole body of canonical scriptures is called by the
Parsis the Avesta : the origin of this appellation, and its
proper signification, are not certainly known. Their collec-
tive extent is not very considerable, and their absolute ma-
terial content is moreover considerably less than it seems
to be, owing to the repetitions and parallelisms in which
they abound.

The Avesta is written in a language to which, by an un-
fortunate blunder, the name of Zend has been given, and

352

now, by long usage, become so firmly attached, that it is
perhaps in vain to hope that they will ever be separated.
To what the name Zend properly applies, we shall see here-
after. If it should be regarded as still practicable to change
the common usage, and give the language a more appropri-
ate designation, none, it is believed, could be found so sim-
ple, and open to so few objections, as Avestan ; this suggests
no theory respecting the age or locality of the dialect, and
is supported by the analogy of the term Vedic, as applied to
the oldest form of the Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas.
The Avestan, then, is an ancient Persian language, most
nearly akin to that of the Achaemenidan Cuneiform In-
scriptions, and the ancestor of some, at least, of the modern
Persian dialects. The epoch when it was a spoken language
cannot be definitely fixed : we have only the most general
data for its determination. A comparison of the language
itself with its two nearest neighbors on either hand, the
Vedic Sanskrit, dating from fifteen centuries before Christ,
and the Achaemenidan Persian, a thousand years later,
leads to no certain results. The Avestan is, indeed, in
point of linguistic development, a more modern dialect than
the former, and, though less clearly so, more ancient than
the latter, so that in respect to time also we should be in-
clined to place it somewhere between the two : yet too much
reliance should not be placed upon such a conclusion, since
even closely related dialects are known to develope and
change at very different rates of progress. Other general
considerations, however, seem to refer us to a time as early
as the first half of the thousand years before Christ as being
that of the Avestan language. It has been already pointed
out that the different portions of the text are, to some ex-
tent, at least, the product of different periods, and that,
while some passages may perhaps be as old as the time of
Zoroaster himself, the bulk of the collection is of such a
character that it cannot be supposed to have originated until
long after. There is no difficulty in assuming that the lan-
guage which had been rendered sacred by the revelation in
it of the first scriptures, should be kept up by the priests,
and made the medium of farther authoritative communica-
tions. But until the texts shall have undergone a more
minute* examination than they have yet received, and until
our knowledge of the details of Persian archaeology is ad-

353

vanced much, beyond its present point, it will be impossible
to read the internal history of the collection, and to deter-
mine, save in a very general way, the order and interval of
its several parts. We cannot yet even fix our earliest limit,
by determining the time of the appearance of Zoroaster,
and of his activity as a reformer of the ancient religion.
The information respecting him which the classic authors
obtained from native sources of their own period is so in-
definite and inconsistent, as to show clearly that the Persians
were already at that time unable to give any satisfactory
account of him ; of course, then, nothing more definite and
reliable could be looked for from them at a later date. His
genealogy is given in the sacred writings, and he is said to
have lived and promulgated his doctrines under a king
Vigtagpa ; the later Persian traditions also are consistent in
making the same statement respecting him. This king was
by Anquetil supposed to be the same with Hystaspes, the
father of the first Darius ; his opinion was generally ac-
cepted as well founded, and the time of the religious law-
giver accordingly fixed at 500-600 B. C. : but the identifi-
cation is now universally acknowledged to be erroneous,
and all attempts to reconstruct Persian chronology and his-
tory from native authorities, so as to establish in them any
points whatever, prior to the reign of the first Sassanid,
have been relinquished as futile. We can only conclude,
from the obscurity which five centuries before Christ seemed
to envelope and hide from distinct knowledge the period of
the great religious teacher, and from the extension of his
doctrines at that time over the whole Iranian territory,
even to its western border, that he must have lived at least
as early as a thousand years before our era. And the ab-
sence in the sacred texts of any mention of Media or Persia
indicates clearly that they were composed prior to the con-
quest of all Iran by the early monarchs of those countries.

Respecting the region in which the Avesta had its origin
we may speak with confidence : it was Bactria and its vicin-
ity, the northeastern portion of the immense territory occu-
pied by the Iranian people, far removed from those countries
with which the western world came more closely into contact.
To give in detail the grounds upon which this opinion is
founded would occupy too much time and space here : they
are, briefly stated, the relation which the Avestan language

354

sustains to the Indian and to the other Persian dialects, dif-
ferences of religious customs and institutions from those
which we know to have prevailed in the West (as, for in-
stance, that the Avesta knows nothing of the Magi, the
priestly caste in Media and in Persia proper), the indirect
but important evidences derived from the general character
of the texts, the views and conceptions which they repre-
sent, the state of culture and mode of life which they indi-
cate as belonging to the people among whom they originated,
and, not least of all, the direct geographical notices which
they contain. The two oldest records of the Indo-European
family, then, were composed in countries which lie almost
side by side, and at periods not very far removed from one
another. It is no wonder that their languages exhibit so
near a kindred that the one has been deciphered and read
by the aid of the other, as we shall see to have been the
case, when we take up again the history of the later Aves-
tan studies.

It is claimed by the Parsis that the Avesta is the work
of Zoroaster himself; with how little ground, will have
been already sufficiently shown by what has been said re-
specting the character and period of the different parts. No-
where in the texts themselves is any such claim set up :
they profess only to be a record of the revelations made to
the prophet, ana the doctrines promulgated by him. The
Parsis also assert that Zoroaster's writings originally com-
posed twenty-one books, or Nosks, and covered the whole
ground of religious and secular knowledge ; as the Egyp-
tians claimed the same thing in behalf of their forty-two
books of Thoth. Of these they say that one, the twentieth,
has been preserved complete, being the Vendidad ; while of
the others only fragments have come down to later times.
But, considering the so evidently incomplete and fragmen-
tary, as well as incongruous and compounded, character of
the Vendidad, it seems altogether probable that this tradi-
tion is not more valuable than the other, and that it in truth
is nothing more than the expression of a consciousness on
the part of the Parsis that they possess only a part of the
scriptures which had once been theirs. Let us farther fol-
low their traditions respecting the history of their sacred
books. Strangely enough, all the native authorities agree
in attributing the first great trial and persecution of the

355

Zoroastrian religion, the dispersion of its followers, and the
destruction of its records, to Alexander the Great. The
introduction of this personage at all into the Persian legend-
ary history, which is silent respecting the time before and
after him for centuries, is remarkable and difficult to explain.
The fabulous account of the great conqueror's life and deeds,
which, coining from a Greek source, was translated with
variations and additions into almost every Oriental lan-
guage, and obtained universal diffusion and popularity
throughout the East,* doubtless had much to do with it ;
but whether this was the sole efficient cause, or whether, as
is more probable, the story may have attached itself to some
faint recollections of the hero, and of the changes which
followed upon his conquests, cannot be discussed here.
We can see, however, that it might be easy to connect
with his appearance the decline of the ancient native re-
ligion, and to convert the foreign subverter of the Persian
empire into a persecutor of the Persian faith. There was,
in truth, at and after his time, a grand falling off in the
honor and reverence paid to this faith : if not oppressed
and persecuted, it had lost the exclusive patronage and sup-
port of government ; it had ceased to be the only acknowl-
edged creed ; the foreign, or only half-Persianized, dynasties
of the Parthians and the Grseco-Baktrians showed it no
especial favor; Grecian influences, Judaism, Christianity,
disputed with it the preferences of the people. With the
overthrow of the Parthian rule, and the establishment of
the Sassanian dynasty, began a new order of things. This
was, in effect, a successful revolution of Persian national-
ity against the dominion of foreign rulers and foreign ideas,
and had as a natural consequence the re-establishment of
the national religion on something like its ancient footing.
The Persian traditions are so definite and concordant re-
specting this great religious revival, and there are so many
other corroborative evidences to the same effect, that its
actuality cannot reasonably be questioned. During the long
interval of neglect and oppression, say the traditions, the
sacred books, even such as were saved from destruction by
the tyrant Iskender (Alexander), had become lost, and the
doctrines and rites of the Zoroastrian religion were nearly

* See an article by President Woolsey in this Journal, vol. iv. p. 857, etc.
VOL. v. 46

356

forgotten. King Ardeshir gathered from all parts of the
land a great assembly of Mobeds, to the number, according
to some, of forty thousand, and from their memory and
recitation of the scriptures, so much of the latter as was
not forgotten was again collected and committed to writing.
This, too, is a notice which there is much reason for believ-
ing to be in the main authentic. The whole state and con-
dition of the collection, as it exists in our hands, indicates
that its material must have passed through some process
analogous to this. The incomplete and fragmentary charac-
ter of the books that compose it, the frequent want of con-
nection, or the evident interpolations of longer or shorter
passages, the hopelessly corrupt state of portions of the
text, the awkward style and entire grammatical incorrect-
ness displayed by others, all go to show that it must be in
some measure an assemblage of fragments, combined with-
out a full understanding of their meaning and connection.
To this is to be added the evidence afforded by the alpha-
betic character in which the texts are written.* The
Avestan character is of Semitic origin, akin to the Syriac
alphabets of the commencement of the Christian era, and
closely resembling that used in the inscriptions and upon
the coins of the earliest Sassanids, of which it seems a de-
veloped form. It cannot, then, have been from the begin-
ning the medium of preservation of the Zoroastrian scrip-
tures ; the Avesta cannot have been written in it before the
time of Christ. But it is a very difficult matter to suppose
a deliberate change in the method of writing a text esteemed
sacred, unless when peculiar circumstances require or strongly
favor it; the character comes to partake of the sanctity
of the matter written in it, and is almost as unalterable.
It could hardly be, excepting when the body of scripture
was assembled and cast into a new form, that it should be
transcribed in a character before unused. The Sassanian
reconstruction of the Zoroastrian canon, and its committal to
writing in an alphabet of that period, must probably have
taken place together.

It may now be inquired in what relation the text of the
Avesta, as it lies before us, stands to this original Sassanian

* Prof. Roth, of Tubingen, has discussed these points in a thorough and in-
structive manner, in the Allg. Monatsschrift (Braunschweig) for March, 1853.

357

compilation. Our oldest existing manuscripts date from the
early part of the fourteenth century, or not less than a
thousand years later than the compilation, and most of them
are considerably more modern. Whatever their age, they
all come also from the same region, from eastern Persia,
namely, the country of Yezd and Kerman; the Parsis in
India lost, as before noticed, at the time of the Mohammedan
conquest, most or all of the sacred books which they had
first brought with them, and were obliged to supply them-
selves anew from that region, the only one where any relic
of the ancient religion still survived in Iran. And they all
offer the same text ; there are, indeed, very considerable va-
rieties of reading among them as regards the orthography
and division of the words, so that not unfrequently different
grammatical forms and different combinations seem to show
themselves ; yet, sentence by sentence, and page by page,
they are found to agree in presenting the same matter in the
same order; their disagreements are to be charged to the
ignorance and carelessness of the copyists ; they all repre-
sent a single original. And this original Westergaard*
supposes to have been the eastern Persian copy of the Sas-
sanian canon ; assuming that but few copies of it were at
first made, and that a single one became the source of sup-
ply to a whole district. These are points upon which far-
ther investigation will doubtless throw a clearer light; but
it may be regarded as upon the whole highly probable that
we have in our hands nearly or quite all the Zoroastrian
scriptures which were found recoverable at the time when
their recovery was attempted, and that we may hope to re-
store, at least approximately, the original text as then con-
structed.

The Avesta, as it has thus been described, does not con-
stitute the whole sacred literature of the Parsis. It is ac-
companied by other matter, chiefly translations and explica-
tions of its text, of later date, and in other tongues. We
have, first, a version of a considerable portion of it in a lan-
guage called Pehlevi or fluzvdresh. It occurs in the manu-
scripts intermingled with the original text, and following it
sentence by sentence. To this version, now, belongs of

Preface to his Zendavesta, p. 21.

358

right the name Zend ;* the word properly denotes, not the
language in which the Avesta is written, but the translation
of the Avesta into another language ; its etymology is not
perfectly clear, but it seems, according to the most plausible
interpretation, to signify a work made for the common, pop-
ular advantage, a reduction of a difficult original to a more
readily and generally intelligible form. Not the whole
Avesta is thus accompanied by its Zend : portions of the
text, as some of the Yeshts, were perhaps never translated,
and of the Ya9na the translation has become lost. The
language and period of the Zend will be considered a little
farther on. Mingled, again, with the Pehlevi version, as in-
terpretations of, or glosses upon it, are found passages which
are styled Pa-Zend, as standing " at the foot of the Zend."
The dialect in which they are composed is called, for con-
venience's sake, the Pdrsi ; it is an older form of the modern
Persian language, not widely different from the latter, nor
far removed from its oldest monuments in point of time.
The Parsi is chiefly known through Spiegel's grammarf of
the dialect, which contains also specimens of texts composed
in it. The glosses above alluded to are not quite its only
records ; parts of the Avesta of some extent are translated
into it, and a few portions of what is accounted as sacred
scripture, such as the Patets, and some of the Aferins, are
found in Pars! alone ; as also the Hinokhired, a little theo-
logical treatise, in the form of a colloquy between Heavenly
Wisdom and The Sage. No certain results have yet been
arrived at respecting the time and place of this purely Per-
sian dialect, but it is regarded with much probability as
having been in use after the downfall of the Sassanian mon-
archy, among the yet remaining followers of the ancient
faith in the eastern and central portions of Iran. It has no
peculiar written character, but is written indifferently in
that of the Avesta or in the Arabic.

To return now to the Zend, or version of the Avesta in
Pehlevi. Respecting this peculiar and difficult dialect there
has been much discussion and difference of opinion ; nor
are its character and period even yet fully established. The
views which have of late been generally held with regard

* See Spiegel, Parsi Grammar, introduction.

f Grammatik der Pdrsisprache, nebst Sprachproben. Leipzig : 1851.

359

to it are those brought forward by Spiegel, the scholar who
had given most attention to the subject.* According to
him, the Pehlevi of the Parsi sacred books was identical
with the Pehlevi of the early Sassanian monarchs, found on
their coins and in their inscriptions, and was accordingly to
be regarded as the language of the Persian court at that pe-
riod, the vernacular into which the sacred texts were at the
time of their collection and arrangement translated, in order
to a better and more extended knowledge of them. It bore
a composite character, its basis being Persian, and that of a
stamp not greatly differing from the form of the language
still current, while a large share of its stock of words was
Semitic, resembling most nearly the Aramaic of the period.
Its proper home would then be the western frontier of the
empire, where Iranian and Semitic nations and languages
bordered upon one another. But it was not in the strictest
sense a spoken dialect ; it was rather a learned or book-lan-
guage, into which Aramaic words were adopted at the pleas-
ure of the writer, somewhat as Arabic words into the mod-
ern Persian. These views, however, seem at present to be
likely to undergo considerable modification. Westergaard
rnaintainsf that the Pehlevi of the early Sassanids and that
of the Zend are two entirely distinct languages ; that the
former is a true Semitic dialect, while the latter is pure Per-
sian, and, in fact, identical with the Parsi, from which it
differs only in the mode of writing. The character in which
it is written is a peculiar one, nearly akin, indeed, to that
made use of for the Avesta itself, but much less complete,
expressing in several instances different sounds by the same
letter. And the difficulty of making out the true form of
the text is due not only to these ambiguities, but also to
" the great number of arbitrary signs or ideographs for pro-
nouns, prepositions, and particles, which have the appear-
ance of real words ;" and to " the adoption of Semitic words
strangely marked by peculiar signs, which pertain to the

* See an article by him in Hofer's Zeitschrift, vol. i, and his translation of
the Vendidad, second Excurs.

f This opinion was first hinted at in the preface to his edition of the Bun-
dehesh (1851), and is more fully stated in his introduction to the Zendavesta,
p. 19, etc. Dr. Haug (Ueber die Pehlevi-Sprache und den Bundehesh. Got-
tingeu: 1854) had followed him in recognizing the difference of the two lan-
guages called Pehlevi

360

writing, and do not enter into the language." If, then, these
signs are properly understood and- translated, the Pehlevi
becomes simple Parsi, the Zend passage becomes a Pa-
Zend. The disguising of the translation in this strange
garb, which causes its language to assume a foreign appear-
ance, Westergaard conceives to have been a priestly device
for confining the knowledge of it to a few, and giving those
few an added importance in the eyes of their brethren. If
this new estimate of the character of the Pehlevi dialect
shall be established as the true one, it will change not a little
the views which have been held respecting the date and
value of the Zend, or Pehlevi translation of the Avesta, as
well as respecting other points bearing upon the history and
interpretation of the Avesta itself. The Zend, however,
whatever its age, has been the medium through which the
later I^ersians have kept up their knowledge of their ancient
sacred scriptures, and the source from which the other and
still later translations have been drawn. When fully un-
derstood and correctly interpreted, it cannot but prove of
considerable value to us, partly as aiding in the comprehen-
sion of the Avestan, partly as furnishing a check upon later
interpolations or mutilations, and otherwise contributing to
the restoration of the original form of the text, partly as
illustrating the condition of Persian doctrine and learning
at the time of its origination. Besides the Zend, and a few
fragments of which the originals in the older Avestan dia-
lect are perhaps lost, the only work known to exist in the
Pehlevi language, or to be preserved as 'written only in
the Pehlevi method, is the Bundehesh, a cosmogonical and
religio-philosophical work of a late period; in part at least,
later than even the Mohammedan conquest of Persia : it,
too, is claimed by the Parsis, but doubtless without founda-
tion, to have had an original in the Avestan language.*
"We hear of Pehlevi works as made use of by Firdusi in
compiling the materials for his great historical poem, but
none of them have been preserved to modern times.

It remains farther only to mention the translations of the
Avesta made in India itself, and into Indian languages. A
Sanskrit version of the Yac.na, or rather of its Zend, was

* Westergaard has published (Copenhagen : 1851) a lithographed fac-simile
of a manuscript of it, the oldest known.

361

made, about four centuries ago, by two Parsi priests, Nerio-
sengh and Ormuzdiar. A similar work was commenced
upon the Vendidad, but carried only to the end of the sixth
Fargard ; and even the portion completed appears to have
become lost ; certainly it has never reached Europe. Some
of the smaller pieces and fragments also exist in San-
skrit translations, but no other of the more important con-
stituent parts of the text, as Vispered, Nyayish, or the
Yeshts. Of late years, more than one edition of the Avesta
has been published by the Parsis in India themselves, ac-
companied with versions in their present vernacular, the
Guzerati ; they have, for us, of course, only a very inferior
interest.

Having thus taken a general view of the history and
present condition of the Zoroastrian scriptures, we will re-
turn to trace farther the course of European studies upon
them. As already remarked, more than fifty years elapsed
after the publication of Anquetil's book before another hand
was laid earnestly and effectively to the work. In the in-
terval, the controversy as to the genuineness of the writings
in question had been settled wholly in their favor, at least
upon the continent; in England it would seem as if some
remnant of the old factious disbelief had endured down
even to the present time. The few voices which had been
raised in France and Germany on the side of Anquetil's op-
ponents had been overborne and silenced; and archgeolo-
gists and historians were busy with reconstructing the fabric
of Persian antiquity from the new materials thus furnished.
All parties, on whatsoever points they might have disagreed,
had united in assuming the correctness and reliability of
Anquetil's translation, nor had any one suggested the possi-
bility that either he himself or his instructors might have
misapprehended and misinterpreted the meaning of the sa-
cred texts. The time was coming, however, when this was to
be made a subject of inquiry, and to be thoroughly and com-
petently tested. When the Sanskrit began to become known
to western scholars, the remarkable resemblance to it of the
Avestan language could not fail to be at once remarked :
this was urged by some as a new and convincing proof that
the alleged Persian scriptures had originated, or been con-
cocted, on Indian ground : others, however, beheld the mat-
ter in its true relations, and hailed with joy the prospect of

362

being able by means of the Indian language to arrive at a
more sure and satisfactory knowledge of the ancient Persian
records. It was in the years 1826-1830 that the new move-
ment began to show itself with effect. In 1826 the cele-
brated Danish scholar, Kask, published a little treatise On
the Age and Genuineness of the Zend language and the
Zend-Avesta, &c. He was a Sanskrit scholar, and a gene-
ral linguistic investigator of rare talents and acquirements :
he had travelled in Persia and India, and had brought home
to Copenhagen a valuable collection of Avestan manuscripts.
His essay was far in advance of anything that had yet ap-
peared, for establishing the character and value of the Aves-
ta, and the relations of its language : it included also a very
greatly improved analysis and determination, absolute and
comparative, of the alphabet of the latter. The same year,
Olshausen, a professor in the University of Kiel, was sent
by the Danish government to Paris to examine and collate
the Avestan manuscripts lying there ; and, upon his return,
the publication of a critical edition of the Vendidad was
commenced by him. Its first part, containing four Fargards,
appeared in 1829,* a lithographed text, with full critical ap-
paratus ; but nearly the whole edition was soon after des-
troyed by fire, and the prosecution of the undertaking was
abandoned. Olshausen's material has since passed into the
hands of Spiegel. In 1829 appeared also, in the Journal
Asiatique (Paris), the first contribution to the study of the
Avesta from a scholar who was destined to do more than
any or than all others to place that study upon its true and
abiding foundation ; to whose investigations the progress of
Avestan science was to be linked for many years to come.
This was Eugene Burnouf. He was Professor of Sanskrit
in the College de France, and already known as a zealous
cultivator of the knowledge of the Orient, to which he had,
in conjunction with Lassen, contributed in 1826 the well
known Essai sur le Pali. His attention became very nat-
urally at that period directed toward the Zoroastrian texts,
and a slight examination and comparison of them with the
translation of Anquetil, led him at once to important results
with reference to the character of the latter. He found it

* Vendidad, Zend-Avestae pars xx, adhuc superstes, etc. Hamburg: 1829.
4to.

363

highly inaccurate, and so full of errors as to be hardly reli-
able even as a general representation of the meaning of its
original. Among the manuscripts brought home by An-
quetil, however, he found another translation, intelligible to
him, which was plainly much more faithful than that of the
French scholar : this was the Sanskrit version of the Yagna
by Neriosengh, mentioned above. He was forced, then, to
conclude that, during the three centuries which had elapsed
between Neriosengh and Anquetil, the Parsis must have
lost in a great degree the knowledge of their own sacred
writings. But it may be remarked here that Spiegel has
since endeavored to show* that Anquetil's inaccuracy was
due not entirely to the ignorance of his Parsi instructors,
but in part also to his own faulty method of communicating
with and interrogating them ; inasmuch as he seemed to
have obtained from them hardly more than an interpretation
of the separate words of the text, which he then himself,
with more or less success, converted into a connected trans-
lation. Accordingly, Burnouf could not do otherwise than
lay Anquetil aside, and commence rather with the help of
Neriosengh the task of investigating the Yagna anew, to
discover its true meaning. But he by no means made him-
self a slavish follower of his Indian authority. The San-
skrit grammar and lexicon were a scarcely less direct, and
in many important respects a more reliable, guide to the
knowledge of the Avestan language, than the translation
itself: and Burnouf 's familiarity with the former, rare for
that period, furnished the true medium of scientific investi-
gation to a mind that was admirably qualified to perceive
and make use of its advantages. He anticipated, in a man-
ner, the science of comparative philology, just then coming
into being, created his own method, and commenced his in-
vestigations with a degree of learning, acuteness, and suc-
cess, that from the first attracted general attention and ac-
knowledgement. The main features of the Avestan gram-
mar, the phonetic value of the characters, the systems of
verbal and nominal inflection, the modes of construction,
were readily established from the analogy of the Indian
tongue; and the Sanskrit lexicon, the roots of the Vedic
and classic dialects, with the aid, in a less degree, of all the

* See Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morg. Gesellsch., i. 243.
VOL. v. 47

364

other kindred languages, ancient and modern, furnished a
clue to the meaning of words. In this way it was possible
to test the correctness of the Parsi interpretation, amend its
errors, and arrive at an understanding of the texts more
accurate by far than their native possessors could boast.
The chief record of Burnouf 's labors is his Commentaire
sur le Yagna, Tome I, published in Paris in 1833. This
contains, in the form of a commentary upon a portion of
text, a collection of very extensive and detailed researches
into the language and matter of these writings, and the
proper method of their interpretation. It was upon such a
scale, however, that the whole large quarto volume, of 800
pages, contained the exposition only of the first of the sev-
enty-two little chapters, or Has, of the Yagna : such a work
evidently could never be carried on to a completion, and
in fact even no continuation of it ever appeared. In the
Journal Asiatique of 1840^16,* Burnouf did indeed take
up and treat, in a similar manner, but with less detail, the
ninth chapter of the same text, yet, before it was quite fin-
ished, his attention was so drawn off by other subjects that
he seems to have laid the study of the A vesta entirely aside,
and even had his life been longer spared, it is not probable
that he would have made farther contributions of import-
ance to it : at any rate, the task of elaborating and publish-
ing a critical text and interpretation of the whole Avesta
would never have been accomplished by him : even before
his lamented death, which took place in 1852, this had
passed out of his hands into those of others. It was hoped
that he might have left behind him material of value, but
nothing was found among his papers in such a state as
should render its publication advisable. We have omitted
to mention in its chronological order the publication, in
1829^3, under his superintendence and by his care, of a
lithographed fac-simile of the finest of Anquetil's manu-
scripts, containing the Vendidad-Sade. This, although a
costly work, and furnishing, of course, a very incorrect text,
aided materially to render these writings more generally
accessible, and to furnish to other scholars the means of
critically examining, or of adding to, the results arrived at

* Published also «eparately, with the title Etudes sur la Langue et sur
les Teztes Zends.

365

by Burnouf himself. Of such facilities the German schol-
ars, in particular, had not failed to avail themselves. So
Bopp, during the whole course of Burnouf's labors, had
been pursuing independent investigations, especially into
the grammatical forms of the Avestan language, the results
of which were made public in his Comparative Grammar of
the Indo-European Languages. Lassen, Benfey, Holtzmann,
and others, had made from time to time contributions of
value to the knowledge of the Avesta ; Eoth had, in more
than one striking article, illustrated various points in the
ancient Iranian religious or traditionary history. Brock-
haus, in 1850, furnished an exceedingly practical and useful
aid to the general study, in the form of a transcription into
Latin characters of the text of Burnouf's Vendidad-Sade,
with the various readings of an edition which the Parsis
themselves had put forth in Bombay (1832 ?), a complete
Index Verborum, and a glossary, containing a summary of
the explanations of words and forms which had up to that
time been given by various scholars.

During the past few years, however, two scholars of emi-
nence have been separately engaged in the preparation of crit-
ical editions of the whole Zoroastrian scriptures. One of
these is Westergaard, a Dane, Professor of Oriental Languages
in the University of Copenhagen, well known to all Sanskrit
scholars by his valuable Radices Linguae Sanscritse. He
inherited, in a manner, the task which Rask and Olshausen
had undertaken, but had failed to accomplish. He had at
his command, as the materials of his proposed work, the
manuscripts brought home to Europe by Rask, Anquetil, and
others, and deposited in the libraries of Copenhagen, Paris,
London, and Oxford, as well as some which he had himself
collected in the course of a journey through Persia and India,
undertaken partly for the purpose, and executed under the
patronage of the Danish government, in the years 1842-43.
The plan was a very comprehensive one. His first volume
was intended to include all the texts in the true Avestan
language (commonly called Zend) which compose the sacred
canon, together with critical notes and various readings. The
second was to comprise a complete vocabulary, and a gram-
mar, which latter should include, also, a comparison of the
Avestan with the other Iranian dialects, a history of all the
Iranian tongues, a comparison of them with the other Indo-

366

European languages, and an exhibition of their present con-
dition and distribution. The third and concluding volume
would then present a translation of all the Avestan texts,
with notes on its deviations from the native interpretations
as expressed in the Pehlevi and Sanskrit translations ; and
farthermore, a view of the civil and religious institutions of
the people among whom the Avesta originated, and a com-
plete history of the nations of Iran, down to the time of the
destruction of Iranian nationality by the Mohammedans.
The whole, though published in Copenhagen, was to be in
the English language, which the author is able to use cor-
rectly and intelligibly, although not with elegance. The full
realization of this magnificent plan, which includes not only
a complete and critical presentation of the new material for
the study of Persian antiquity, with all the aids that can be
jfarnished to those wishing to make use of it, but also the
reconstruction, by its help, of the whole fabric of Persian
philology, archaeology, and history, must be, of course, the
result of years of patient and devoted labor ; nor is it to be
supposed that the execution of such a work in a manner
entirely satisfactory lies within the power of a single scholar,
or perhaps of a single generation of scholars. What is pos-
sible to the learning and ingenuity of one man, the Danish
editor will doubtless accomplish. He has but recently made
himself known as an investigator in this field of study, but
the ability which he has shown in others justifies high
expectations, and the learned world is looking forward with
great interest to the completion of his undertaking. His
first volume, containing the Avestan text, with critical notes,
has already appeared ; its publication was begun in 1852 and
finished in 1854.* In a full and interesting preface, prefixed
to the volume, he explains what he has undertaken to accom-
plish in it. He describes the material which he has made
use of, tracing out, so far as is possible, the history and mutual
relations of the diiferent manuscripts. He then proceeds to
an examination of the history of the texts themselves, their
collection in their present form, and their preservation, arriv-
ing at the general conclusions which have been already stated
above. It has been his endeavor, then, to restore the Sas-

* Zendavesta, or the Religious Books of the Zoroastrians, edited and trans-
lated, with a dictionary, grammar, <kc., by N. L. Westergaard. Vol. I. The
Zend Texts. Copenhagen: 1862-64. 4to, pp. 26 and 486.

867

sanian original of the existing manuscripts, a task simple
and easy in its main features, but exceedingly difficult and
perplexing in its details. He has made the oldest manu-
scripts in every case his main authorities, but has not hesi-
tated to deviate from them when later ones have seemed to
present, were it only by accident, a preferable reading;
and he has even ventured upon emendations of his own,
when there was an utter disagreement of authorities, eviden-
cing a corrupt text, or when the analogy of parallel passages,
or the plain requirements of the sense, seemed to authorize
them. In the foot-notes to each page he has given a selec-
tion only from the various readings offered by the different
manuscripts, such, namely, as appeared to him to have any
value, leaving out innumerable errors of transcription, and
slight and unimportant variations from the text he has
adopted. In this way he has unquestionably rid his work of
a great body of worthless and cumbersome matter, but, on
the other hand, he may, in not a few instances, have excluded
a true "reading, or what might have suggested such. It is,
in the present state of our knowledge of the Avestan language,
a matter of some risk to allow one's self the liberty of making
a sparing selection of various readings : it is difficult to say
what valuable hint may not now and then be hidden in a
reading apparently worthless ; and then, farther, considering
the unsettled condition of Avestan orthography, differences
which would otherwise be insignificant may assume often
a certain importance. It is the opinion of Roth,* and deserves
the careful consideration of laborers in this field, that the
new dress into which the Avesta was re-written at the time
of its last compilation was not altogether suited to it, and
that the rules of transcription were not in all points defi-
nitely established, or consistently followed, by the compilers,
so that the orthographical confusion of the texts is at least in
part original, and the true phonetic form of the language is
yet to be restored ; in accomplishing which, the metrical
portions of the Yagna will render essential service. The
scantiness of the critical apparatus given by Westergaard
may accordingly prove to be the weak point of his edition
of the Avestan texts ; it would not, perhaps, be easy to find
other matter in his work open to criticism. The form and

*See his essay in the Allg. Monatsschrift, quoted above.

368

arrangement of the volume is very convenient and practical ;
the character made use of, indeed, is ungraceful, ill sustaining
comparison with that employed by Burnouf and Spiegel ; but
the divisions of the text are distinctly marked, to facilitate
reference, and all notes are given on the same page with the
text to which they refer. Of the time when the appearance
of the remaining volumes of the work may be looked for,
we have no notice, but can only hope that it will be as soon
as is consistent with their thorough and careful preparation.
The community of scholars, already thankful for the com-
plete critical text of the Avesta so long waited for, will hail
with added joy and gratitude the lexicon and grammar
which shall render its contents accessible to other than the
few to whom they have hitherto been confined.

The other editor is Friedrich Spiegel, Professor in the Er-
langen University, in Bavaria. The numerous references
already made in this paper to his various works will have
indicated the prominent position which he occupies in the
history of the later investigations into Iranian antiquity as
connected with the Avesta. For some years, in fact, the
most important contributions made to the general knowledge
of the subject proceeded from him, in the form of essays
communicated to the best-known German periodicals, or, in
one or two cases, of independent works of some extent. All
these were, however, to be regarded as preparatory studies
for the great work of the complete publication and interpre-
tation of the Avesta, which their author was known to have
in hand. His plan included the same texts, of course, as are
presented in Westergaard's edition, and the manuscript mate-
rial at his command was nearly the same as that made use
of by the other editor. With the Avesta was to be given
also its Zend, or Pehlevi interpretation, and, as a separate
work, but accompanying as nearly as possible each portion
of the published texts, a translation of them into German,
together with explanatory notes, and essays upon special
points of interest in Iranian archaeology. The first volume,
containing the Yendidad, has been already for some time
before the world, in both forms, text and translation.* The

* Avesta, die beiligen Schriften der Parsen. Zum ersten Male im Grund-
texte sammt der Huzvdresch-iibersetzung herausgegeben von Dr. Fr. Spiegel.
I. Band : der Vendidad. Wien: 1853. 8vo, pp. 28, 323, and 236 : and

Avesta, die ... etc. Aus dem Grundtexte iibersetzt, mit steter Riicksicht auf
die Tradition, von Dr. Fr. Spiegel. Erster Band: der Vendidad. Leipzig: 1852.
8vo, pp. viii, 295.

869

general critical principles upon which Spiegel's text is con-
structed are much the same as those followed by Wester-
gaard ; he aims to give the best readings which are supported
by manuscript authority, venturing to alter and amend only
in cases where the error and its correction are alike palpable
and unquestionable. He does not claim, of course, to have
succeeded always in selecting the reading which will finally
be found preferable to the rest, but he furnishes, in the crit-
ical apparatus given along with the text, full material for
testing and correcting the latter. For the Pehlevi version
no critical apparatus is given, although the text of it is in
part founded upon two manuscripts presenting quite differ-
ent readings, and although the very defective state of our
knowledge of the language, or mode of writing, would seem
to render such an aid to our study of it highly desirable, or
almost indispensable. Spiegel's 'edition is very handsomely
printed, at the Imperial Office in Vienna, but in one respect
is decidedly inferior to the less elegant Copenhagen work :
while the latter is evidently arranged with a view to aiding
as much as possible the practical study of its contents, the
other seems rather intended to look as Oriental as may be,
and lacks, accordingly, all page-headings and numbered divi-
sions of the text, so as to render it next to impossible to find
a passage sought for, or to verify a citation.

No continuation of Spiegel's work has appeared since 1853,
nor is any known to have been announced ;* it seems not
unlikely, therefore, that he has given up the design of pub-
lishing farther portions of the text, as being already fully
brought before the public in the edition of Westergaard.
The latter has, moreover, extended his original plan so as to
include the publication, in a separate volume, of the Zend,
or Pehlevi version of the Avesta, excepting that part of it
already made public by Spiegel, and of Neriosengh's San-
skrit translation.

The translation of the Yendidad by its German editor
appeared even before the completion of the text itself, namely
in 1852. It is preceded by an introduction, in which are
given at some length the translator's views respecting the

* Since the above was written, I have been informed, by a private letter
from Germany, that a second volume of Spiegel's Avesta, in text and transla-
tion, is going through the press. The letter speaks also of a new Huzvaresh
grammar, by the same author, which has not yet come to hand in America. i

370

early history of Persian culture and religion, as also respect-
ing the history of the Zoroastrian writings, and their introduc-
tion to the knowledge of the West. It is farther followed
by three essays (Excurseri), treating, respectively, of the influ-
ence of the Semitic religions upon the ancient Persian reli-
gion, of the age of the Huzvaresh or Pehlevi language, and
of the composition of the Vendidad ; while each chapter of
the translation is prefaced by a more or less extended expli-
cation of its contents and their significance. But this trans-
lation itself, although undoubtedly a great improvement
upon that of Anquetil, cannot be regarded as an entirely
successful work, nor can implicit confidence be placed in it
as an accurate version of its original. Indeed, to furnish a
satisfactory interpretation of the Avesta is obviously a task
of far greater difficulty than to prepare a first edition of its
texts. For the latter, all accessible materials had been
assembled : it was not to be hoped that any manuscripts of
value still remained to be discovered in the Orient, still less
that additions would be made to the sum of the writings
already known. Western scholarship had only to assume
this material as it was, and to construct from it, as a basis
for farther study, the best text which its condition allowed.
But this is, after all, only a first step in the process of inves-
tigation; the criticism which has hitherto attempted only to
restore the original of the existing manuscripts, has now
before it the harder task of bringing out the internal char-
acter and relations of the text, of separating what has been
wrongly combined and re-combining what has been wrongly
separated, of detecting interpolations and discovering lacunas,
of recognizing corrupted passages, and either amending them
into intelligibility, or condemning them as hopeless ; of analy-
zing the whole, in short, into its component elements, and
determining their source and value. And all this for a work
of which the language has been for two thousand years
extinct, and is to be restored to knowledge almost solely by
the indirect means of a comparison with kindred and more
intelligible dialects. It is somewhat as if the English had
been long a dead language, and it were required to restore
Milton's Paradise Lost, its only remaining record, from a few
inaccurate, fragmentary, and confused manuscripts, by the
aid of German and Swedish. Such an undertaking requires
for its execution a long term of years, and the concurrent

371

labor of many students, nor can we hope to see it ever more
than approximately accomplished. Now the work of pre-
senting to a wider circle of inquirers and investigators a tho-
roughly reliable interpretation of the Iranian scriptures
must, in the main, keep pace with this critical treatment of
their text ; and all results founded upon a present translation
of them must be received with some degree of caution.
There was a time when Anquetil's version was implicitly
accepted as an authority ; now that its utter unreliability is
clearly proved, there is nothing to take its place in the gen-
eral estimation. Spiegel would not himself claim, in behalf
of his translation of the Vendidad, anything more than an
approximate correctness. But there are special reasons why
his work is less satisfactory than such a work might have
been expected to be made even now. He has constituted
himself the particular advocate and patron of the native tra-
ditional interpretation, giving it an undue prominence among
the aids to the comprehension of its original ; he has seemed
to make it his first principle to be true to the tradition, as he
understands it, and only his second to be true to the text.
But all experience has shown, with regard to these so-called
traditional interpretations, that they are unsafe guides, inac-
curate and uncritical, accustomed to foist in upon their texts
the conceptions and dogmas of a later period. Nor is there
anything in the character of the Zend which should make it
an exception to the general rule ; it has, rather, its own
especial deficiencies and difficulties, as being composed in an
obscure, and hitherto only partially understood dialect. If
Spiegel has, as Westergaard maintains, essentially misappre-
hended the character of the Pehlevi, regarding as a peculiar
and much more ancient language what is, in fact, only simple
Parsi, disguised by a strange and artificial orthography, then
it is clear that his translation of the A vesta, made chiefly
through the Zend, cannot be otherwise than a very imper-
fect work, however much we may have to be grateful to him
for his contribution toward the accomplishment of a task
beset with so many and so great difficulties. When an
accurate version of the Zoroastrian scriptures is at length of-
fered to the world, it will owe not a little to the labors of
Friedrich Spiegel.

We have thus reviewed the history of the Avesta, and of
the labors which have been devoted to its preservation and

VOL. v. 48

372

interpretation, both in the East and in the West, from its
origin down to the present time. It may now be inquired
what advantages we are to derive from our possession of it";
how it is to us a valuable recovery from among the lost
treasures of ancient literature. Such questions were once
asked in a disparaging and contemptuous spirit ; Anquetil
was derided by some of his contemporaries for having suf-
fered a farrago of nonsense and puerilities to be palmed off
upon him by his Pars! teachers as the works of the sage
Zoroaster ; for having wasted his zeal and efforts in acquiring
for Europe a worthless text, which had no claim upon our
regard or study. And it is true that if the object sought to
be attained by bringing the Avesta to the West had been
the acquisition for the latter of new treasures of profound
wisdom, elevated religious sentiment, and inspired and inspir-
ing poetry, then the undertaking could not be regarded as
crowned with success. Much of the reproach of inflated
emptiness brought against the work as interpreted by Anque-
til belonged, it is true, only to his interpretation of it, yet
the minute details of a trivial ceremonial, and the monoto-
nous repetitions of formulas of praise and homage, of which
it is actually, to a considerable extent, made up, as well as
its depiction of conceptions and customs absurd or offen-
sive, were not calculated to attract by virtue of their own
intrinsic interest. Such, however, is not the point of view
from which the value of a recovery like this will now be
judged ; such are not the aims and expectations with which
we study the records of primeval thought and culture ; we
do not go to them to learn religion, or philosophy, or sci-
ence, nor to have our hearts touched and swayed by the
surpassing power of poetic thoughts and fancies ; we go to
read the early history of the human race, to trace out the
efforts of man to comprehend, and make himself master of, his
circumstances ; to obtain light respecting the origin of ideas
and institutions ; to derive information as to the relationship,
and intercourse, and mutual influence of ancient nations. It
would enter into no cultivated mind now to question the
high worth of writings of undoubted authenticity coming
down from a remote antiquity, because they were found to
be deficient in literary merit, when judged by modern
standards ; or because in the character of the mind they por-
trayed, and the conditions reflected in them, there was much

373

to lament and disapprove. An increased value, of course,
is conferred upon any literary remains by superiority of
absolute merit, when considered simply as works of the
human mind, without reference to the place or period of their
production ; and again, if they be regarded in the light of
historical documents, it is plain that the higher their char-
acter, the higher was the intellectual and moral development
of the nation which originated them, and the more important
will be the illustration of its history, and the more valuable
the instruction to be derived therefrom. But yet the story
of the human mind is hardly less full of interest in its weak-
nesses, imperfections, and errors, than in its successes and
proudest triumphs, and lessons almost as noteworthy are to
be learned in the one case as in the other. The sum of
interest attaching to the history of an ancient people will
depend, not solely upon the degree of culture, or the extent of
empire, to which that people may have attained, but also
upon its position, connections, and influence, and upon the
ability of its records to throw light upon the condition and
fates of other peoples in whom we also feel a high interest.

Let us take, then, briefly, such a view of Persian nation-
ality and culture, in their history and relations, as will
enable us to appreciate the value of the new illustration of
them which is furnished by the Avesta.

In the first place, the Iranian people is of our own kindred,
a branch of the great Indo-European family, to which we,
along with all the most highly civilized races of the present
age, belong. Its history, accordingly, constitutes a part of
the history of this most important division of the human
race. From the separate contributions of each member is to
be made up the general story of the family ; and the complete-
ness of this, and therefore the full understanding of each
part of it, requires that the fates of no people of Indo-Euro-
pean origin should fail to be rehearsed in it. The Indo-
European nations are a band of brothers, descended from
one ancestor ; they had all a common starting point, and, for
a time, a common history, widely scattered as they now are
over the face of the earth ; they had common beliefs and
institutions, and a common language, different as they seem
to be in all these respects to one who regards only their
present condition ; there is a family likeness among them,
distinguishing them from all other nations, much as thousands

374

of years have done to efface it. We have, then, before us
for a task the investigation of the history of this family
as a family ; we have not only to follow up, so far as their
records will allow, the story of each separate member ; we
have to strive to penetrate beyond this into the darkness
of the ante-historic period, to discover the place where they
dwell together, the conditions which were common to them,
all, the epoch of their dispersion, the wanderings and adven-
tures of each on its way to the possession of the seat in
which we finally find it established. As the materials of the
investigation, we have the languages of the various nations,
and such information as we can glean respecting the begin-
nings of their history. And, of course, the farther back we
can in any instance penetrate, the nearer will be our approach
to the primitive time, the more direct the light which will
be thrown upon the common antiquity of the family. This
shows us how we have to estimate the value of the ancient Per-
sian history. Persia is, in a certain sense, the elder brother of
the family, and deserving of especial honor from the rest,
since it was the first to assume that importance in the eyes
of the world which the family has ever since maintained,
and promises henceforth always to maintain ; the prominence
of the Indo-European races, as actors in the great drama of
universal history, commences with the era of Persian empire.
And the Persian language, and the Persian institutions, as
represented to us by the Avesta, lead us back nearer to the
primitive period than do those of any other nation, with the
exception only of the Indian. It is especially, however,
as an auxiliary to India, that Persia offers contributions of
value to general Indo-European history. It is now becoming
familiarly known how much the latter depends for its illus-
tration upon Indian archaeology ; how that the antiquity and
wonderful conservation of the language of India, the San-
skrit, the original simplicity of its earliest recorded customs,
and the primitiveness of its myths and traditions, render
them more direct illustrations than any other information
we possess, of the state and condition of the family prior to
its dispersion. But the relation between Persia and India
is so intimate that each essentially aids in the comprehension
of the other ; the Veda and Avesta, those two most vene-
rable documents of Indo-European history, illuminate each
others pages, and, taken together, lay before our eyes a view

375

of the condition of that primitive epoch when the Indian
and Persian peoples were still dwelling together, one nation
in language, institutions and territory ; an epoch a thousand
years more remote in the annals of the family than is
reached evea by Greek tradition.

Iran itself, apart from the genealogical relations of its
people, is of consequence enough to render the fullest illus-
tration of its history a thing greatly to be desired. From
the earliest commencement of recorded history down to the
present time, it has been eminent among the nations of the
earth. The extent of Persian empire in its period of highest
glory is hardly surpassed by that which Roman dominion
attained centuries later. Its overthrow by the Macedonian
conqueror was but a momentary fall ; we might almost say,
only the overthrow of a corrupt royalty and nobility. Under
the Parthian and Sassanian dynasties, Iranian nationality
reasserted itself, and its new life was far from inglorious. It
sank again, completely and finally, as it seemed, before the
onset of Mohammedan valor and religious enthusiasm, yet
it reacted powerfully upon its conquerors; the influence
exerted by Persian culture upon the comparatively uncivi-
lized Arab tribes was great and controlling ; their literature
and science had in a great measure a Persian origin. And
once more Iran raised its head ; after three hundred years
of servitude, there was yet vigor of life enough left in the
old race to penetrate, and animate anew with a Persian spirit,
even the foreign doctrines and institutions which had been
imposed upon it; its independence was at least partially
recovered, and with the eleventh century commenced a new
era of Persian literature, whose productions are the most
brilliant flowers grown on eastern soil. The names of Fir-
dusi, of Hafiz, of Jami, of Saadi, are worshipped in the East,
and honored in the West ; their works have more of that
intrinsic literary merit which endears them to all times and
countries than any others which Oriental nations have
originated. Arms and literature have combined to extend
Persian influence far beyond the limits of Iran ; it is felt all
the way from Constantinople to Calcutta. Turkish and
Hindustani are thickly set with Persian words ; Persian is
the language of courts, and of the elegantly educated, and
Persian classics are the favorite models for imitation in every
branch of composition.

376

•

Such is the race of whose ancient language and literature
the Avesta, together with the translations and related frag-
ments accompanying it, is, save a few inscriptions, the only
surviving representative. From such remains, of course, we
do not look for direct contributions to the external history
of Iran. Nor is that what was especially to be desired. The
general features of the story were already before us, derived
from other sources. What we most wanted in addition was
clear and reliable information as to the genealogical relations
of the Persian people, and such an insight into their native
character, and such a view of their earliest institutions, as
should serve for a key to the after development of both,
and to the relations of their various recorded phases. When
we recall with what pains-taking industry had been wont to
be collected from the classic authors a scanty list of Persian
words, of doubtful authenticity, for the purpose of shedding
light upon the position occupied by that people among the
races of men, we see clearly of what value is the abundant
supply of evidence furnished by the Avesta. The modern
Persian showed satisfactorily, it is true, that Iran was peopled
by a race of Indo-European origin ; but it is a language of
so altered and modernized a form, that hardly more than
this general conclusion could have been derived from it with
any certainty. Its deficiencies might have been partly sup-
plied by the Cuneiform Inscriptions of the Achsemenidan
monarchs, yet it was mainly by the aid of the Avestan that
these were themselves deciphered and made available. The
whole field of Persian ethnology and philology has been
brightly illuminated by the Avesta, and made one of the
best understood, as well as most instructive and interesting,
of all those which are open to science in this department.

But in one or two important particulars the Avesta adds,
directly and indirectly, to our knowledge even of the ex-
ternal history of the Iranian peoples. The classic writers
had dealt almost exclusively with the western provinces,
and without this new authority we should have known little
of the eastern and northeastern regions of Iran : we should
never have suspected that the latter were not only the most
ancient home of the race, but also the birthplace of its civi-
lization and religion; the true national centre, whose im-
portance in the general sum of the national history, as esti-
mated by popular recollection and tradition, was decidedly

377

•

superior to that of the West. It is well known that the
modern Persians are in possession of a traditionary account
of their race, which professes to cover its whole history,
from, the earliest to the latest times. This account is pre-
sented to us in the great poem of Firdusi, the Shah-Nameh,
or Book of Kings, one of the earliest and most famous pro-
ductions of the new era of Persian literature, and one of
the most remarkable works which any Oriental literature
can boast ; a true epic, in which the mythic and heroic le-
gends of the. olden time, after being long preserved and
handed down by tradition, laid up in the national memory,
and worked over, and developed, and systematized, by the
national mind, are finally reduced to form, and woven to-
gether into one connected story, by a national poet, whose
version is then universally accepted, and becomes the ac-
knowledged and credited history of the people. In this
epic we read nothing of the Achaemenidan kings: that
proudest period of Persian empire is passed over without a
notice : in its earliest accounts figure personages respecting
whom Occidental history is silent : the struggle which con-
stitutes its central point of interest is not that between Asia
and Europe for the dominion of the civilized world, but
that between Iran and Turan, the Persian and Turkish
races, for the possession of the Iranian territory. There
was a time when this strange history was a puzzle to the
student of Oriental antiquity ; when, in the apprehension of
some, it cast doubts upon the authenticity of the classic ac-
counts ; when attempts were made to analyze it, and extract
from it a true historic element. Now the Avesta has solved
the riddle ; it has shown the mythic origin of many of the
personages and events presented as historical, and has exhib-
ited the motives which directed the popular mind in its sele*c-
tion of the circumstances which it retained, and in their com-
bination. It has, then, at least explained the origin of the
native traditionary history, and determined what part shall
be asssigned to it in the reconstruction of the actual history
of the race.

The proper ofiice of the Avesta, however, is to inform us
respecting the moral and religious tenets and institutions of
the ancient Iranian people. And its importance in virtue
of this ofiice is not to be lightly estimated. The Zoroas-
trian religion is one of the most prominent among the forms

378

of belief which, have prevailed upon the earth, by reason
both of the influence which it has exerted, and of its own
intrinsic character. It was, indeed, never propagated by
missionary labors beyond the limits of Iran ; we know of
no people not of Persian origin who accepted it volunta-
rily, or upon whom it was forced ; but its position on the
eastern border of the Semitic races allowed it to affect and
modify the various religions of Semitic origin. The later
Jewish religion is believed by many to exhibit evident traces
of Zoroastrian doctrines, borrowed during the captivity in
Babylonia ; and the creeds of some Oriental Christian sects,
as well as of a portion of the adherents of Islam, have de-
rived essential features from the same source. But the influ-
ence which its position only gave it the opportunity of ex-
ercising, was assured to it by its own exalted character. Of
all the religions of Indo-European origin, of all the religions
of the ancient Gentile world, it may fairly be claimed to
have been the most noble and worthy of admiration, for the
depth of its philosophy, the spirituality of its views and
doctrines, and the purity of its morality. Valuable notices
respecting it had been given by the classical writers, yet
they had been altogether insufficient to convey a clear view
even of its then condition in the western provinces to which
it had spread, much less to illustrate its origin, and the his-
tory of its development in the land of its birth. Had the
Avesta no other merit than that of laying before us a full
picture of the ancient Persian religion, it would be a docu-
ment of incalculable value to the student of antiquity.

A brief sketch of the characteristic features of this reli-
gion will form a not inappropriate close to a paper on the
Avesta.

By the testimony of its own scriptures, the Iranian reli-
gion is with the fullest right styled the Zoroastrian : Zoro-
aster is acknowledged as its founder throughout the whole
of the sacred writings ; these are hardly more than a record
of the revelations claimed to have been made to him by the
supreme divinity. It is not, then, a religion which has
grown up in the mind of a whole people, as the expression
of their conceptions of things supernatural ; it has received
its form in the mind of an individual ; it has been inculcated
and taught by a single sage and thinker. Yet such a reli-
gion is not wont to be an entirely new creation, but rather

379

a carrying out of tendencies already existing in the general
religious sentiment, a reformation of the old established
creed, which the time was prepared for and demanded.
And so it was in the present instance. We are able, by the
aid of the Indian Veda, to trace out with some distinctness
the form of the original Aryan faith, held before the sepa-
ration of the Indian and Persian nations. It was an almost
pure nature-religion ; a worship of the powers conceived to
be the producers of all the various phenomena of the sensi-
ble creation,* and, of course, a -polytheism, as must be the
first religion of any people who without higher light are
striving to solve for themselves the problem of the universe.
But even in the earliest Yedic religion appears a tendency
toward an ethical and monotheistic development, evidenced
especially by the lofty and ennobling moral attributes and
authority ascribed to the god Varuna : and this tendency,
afterwards unfortunately checked and rendered inoperative
in the Indian branch of the race, seems to have gone on in
Persia to an entire transformation of the natural religion
into an ethical, of the polytheism into a monotheism ; a
transformation effected especially by the teachings of the
religious reformer Zoroaster. It is hardly to be questioned
that Varuna himself is the god out of whom the Iranians
made their supreme divinity : the ancient name, however,
nowhere appears in their religious records ; they have given
him a new title, Ahum-Mazda, "Spiritual Mighty-one," or
"Wise-one" (Aura-Mazda of the Inscriptions; Oromasdes
and Ormuzd of the classics and modern Persians). The
name itself indicates the origin of the conception to which
it is given ; a popular religion does not so entitle its crea-
tions, if indeed it brings forth any of so elevated and spirit-
ual a character. Ahura-Mazda is a purely spiritual concep-
tion ; he is clothed with no external form or human attri-
butes ; he is the creator and ruler of the universe, the author
of all good ; he is the only being to whom the name of a
god can with propriety be applied in the Iranian religion.
Other beings, of subordinate rank and inferior dignity, are
in some measure associated with him in the exercise of his
authority ; such are Mithra, the ancient sun-god, and almost
inseparable companion of Varuna in the Vedic invocations,

* See this Journal, vol. iii. p. 315, etc.
VOL. v. 49

380

and the seven Amshaspands (Amesha-Gpenta, "Immortal
Holy-ones,") whose identity with the Adityas of the Veda
has been conjectured ; they appear here, however, with new
titles, expressive of moral attributes. The other gods of
the original Aryan faith, although they have retained their
ancient name of daeva (Sanskrit deva\ have lost their indi-
viduality and their dignity, and have been degraded into
the demons, the malignant and malevolent spirits, of 'the
new religion; just as, when Christianity was introduced
into Germany, the former objects of heathen worship were
not at once and altogether set aside and forgotten, but main-
tained a kind of place in the popular belief as mischievous
spirits of evil. The Daevas, together with other classes of
beings of like character, form a body of malevolent and
harmful powers corresponding to the Indian rakshas. At
their head, and the chief embodiment of the spirit which
inspires them, is Angra-Mainyus (Arimanius, Ahriman), the
"Sinful-minded," or "Malevolent;" his name is one given
him as an antithesis to the frequent epithet of Ahura-Mazda,
qpento-mainyus, " holy-minded," or " benevolent." This
side of the religion came to receive, however, a peculiar de-
velopment, which finally converted the religion itself into a
dualism. Such was not its character at the period repre-
sented by the Avesta ; then the demons were simply the
embodiment of whatever evil influences existed in the uni-
verse, of all that man has to hate, and fear, and seek protection
against. This was the Persian or Zoroastrian solution of
the great problem of the origin of evil. There was wick-
edness, impurity, unhappiness, in the world ; but this could
not be the work of the holy and benevolent Creator Ahura-
Mazda ; the malevolence of Angra-Mainyus and his infernal
legions must have produced it. Later, however, a reasoning
and systematizing philosophy inquires : how came there to
be such a malevolent being in the fair world of the benevo-
lent Creator ? can he have been produced by him ? and
why, if an inferior and subject power, is he not annihilated,
or his power to harm taken away ? and then arises the doc-
trine that the powers of good and evil are independent and
equal, ever warring with one another, neither able wholly
to subdue its adversary. This latter phase of belief is
known to have appeared very early in the history of the
Zoroastrian religion ; the philosophers aided its development

381

by setting up an undefined being, Zervan-akerene, "time un-
bounded," from which were made to originate the two hos-
tile principles, and for which they sought to find a place
among the original tenets of their religion by a misinterpre-
tation of certain passages in the sacred texts.

Such being the constitution of the universe, such the
powers by which it was governed, the revelation was made
by the benevolent Creator to his chosen servant for the
purpose of instructing mankind with reference to their con-
dition, and of teaching them how to aid the good, how to
avoid and overcome the evil. The general features of the
method by which this end was to be attained are worthy of
all praise and approval. It was by sedulously maintaining
purity, in thought, word, and deed ; by truthfulness, tem-
perance, chastity ; by prayer and homage to Ahura-Mazda
and the other beneficent powers; by the performance of
good works, by the destruction of noxious creatures ; by
everything that could contribute to the welfare and happi-
ness of the human race. No cringing and deprecatory wor-
ship of the powers of evil was enjoined ; toward them the
attitude of the worshipper of Mazda was to be one of un-
compromising hostility ; by the power of a pure and right-
eous walk he was to confound and frustrate their malevolent
attempts against his peace. Fasts and penance, except as
imposed by way of penalty for committed transgression,
were unknown. Religious ceremonies were few and simple,
for the most part an inheritance from the primitive Aryan
time : they were connected chiefly with the offering of Homa
(Indian 8oma*\ and with the fire.f The latter was to the
ancient Iranians, and has remained down to the present day,
the sacred symbol of divinity. An object of worship, prop-
erly so called, it never was ; it was only invested with the
same sanctity which belonged also to the other elements,
the pure creations of Ahura-Mazda : all were invoked and
addressed with homage, and it was unpardonable sin to pro-
fane them with impurity. Fire was kept constantly burn-
ing in an enclosed space ; not in a temple, for idols and tem-
ples have been alike unknown throughout the whole course
of Persian history : and before it, as in a spot consecrated

* See this Journal, vol. iii. p. 299.
f See as above, p. 317.

382

by the especial presence of the divinity, were performed the
chief rites of worship.

The doctrines of the Zoroastrian religion respecting death,
and the fate of mankind after death, are a very remarkable
and interesting part of it, strikingly exhibiting both its
weakness and its strength. On the one hand, as sickness
and death were supposed to be the work of the malignant
powers, the dead body itself was regarded with superstitious
horror. It had been got by the demons into their own pe-
culiar possession, and became a chief medium through
which they exercised their defiling action upon the living.
Everything that came into its neighborhood was unclean,
and to a certain extent exposed to the influences of the ma-
levolent spirits, until purified by the ceremonies which the
law prescribed. The corpse was plainly arrayed, and re-
moved as soon as might be from the company of living
men : but where should it be deposited ? neither of the
pure elements, earth, fire, or water, might receive it ; so to
soil their purity would be the worst of crimes : it was ex-
posed in a place prepared for the purpose, and left to be de-
voured by beasts and birds of prey, and only after the
bones had been thoroughly stripped of flesh, and dried and
bleached, was it allowed to hide them away in the ground.
But while the body was thus dishonored, the different na-
ture and separate destiny of the soul was fully believed in.
If the person of whose mortal form the demons had thus
obtained possession had been during life a sincere worship-
per of Mazda, if he had abhorred evil, and striven after
truth and purity, then the powers of evil had no hold upon
his soul ; this, after hovering for a time about its former
tenement, hoping for a reunion with it, was supposed to
pass away beyond the eastern mountains from which the
sun rises, to the paradise of the holy and benevolent gods :
the souls of the unbelieving and the evil-doers, however,
were not deemed worthy of that blessedness, and were
thought, so it seems, to be destroyed with the body.

It cannot be said, however, that this belief in immortality,
and, to a certain extent, in a future state of rewards and
punishments, formed a prominent feature of the Iranian reli-
gion, any more than of the Indian, or that it was made to
enter into the daily practice of life as an ever-present and
powerful incentive to good conduct.

383

Such are the fundamental doctrines, the moral ground-
work, of the Iranian religion as reformed by Zoroaster, and
no one can fail to see and acknowledge their noble and ex-
alted character. As laid before us in the Avesta, they are
not unmixed, it is true, with much that is of far inferior in-
terest. In order to obtain a view of them thus in their
native purity, we have to remove somewhat of the rubbish
of ceremonial and outward observance with which they are
encumbered and concealed, and to pass over in silence some
features of belief not altogether worthy of them, the accre-
tion, in part, of a later time. Yet they are really there, and
do in fact constitute the basis on which the whole fabric of
Iranian religion and philosophy has been reared. It would
seem as if, in the right hands, they might have maintained
themselves in their purity, and even have led the way to
something still better and higher. But this has not been
the case. That corruption and decay which has seemed to
be the destiny of everything Oriental, has not spared the
Zoroastrian religion. Its external rites, indeed, have main-
tained themselves with a tenacity truly remarkable : that
little community of strangers on the western Indian coast,
now the only remaining adherents of a faith which was in
old times professed throughout the whole vast Iranian terri-
tory, worship still with the same forms as did their forefa-
thers, three thousand years ago : but the spirit of the ancient
religion is lost, and its practices are kept up by the Parsis
rather from habit and a clannish spirit, than from any real
religious sentiment, or proper understanding of the doctrines
they symbolize.

AETICLE IY.

C 0 N T E I B U T I 0 N S

THE ATHARVA-VEDA

TO THE THEORY OF

SANSKEIT VERBAL ACCENT

WILLIAM D. WHITNEY,

FBOFESSOK OF SANSKRIT IN YALE COLLEGE.

(Read October 8, 1856.)

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ATHARVA-VEDA

THEORY OF SANSKRIT VERBAL ACCENT

AT a former meeting of the Society, I had the honor to
lay before it, in connection with a review of a late work
by Prof. Bopp, of Berlin, an attempt to state in a new and
improved form the rules respecting the accentuation of the
finite verb in the Sanskrit sentence.* That such an attempt
was called for, will be evident enough to any one who will
refer to the statement of these rules which is given in Ben-
fey's larger Sanskrit grammar, f the latest and most elaborate
work of its class, and the only one which professes to treat
the subject in an exhaustive manner. It is not too much
to say that the account of the phenomena of verbal accen-
tuation which is there presented is entirely unsatisfactory,
or even unintelligible ; that it is plainly wanting in true
method ; that it is no orderly development from a central
principle, subordinating the more particular to the more gen-
eral, and giving each special rule its due proportion in the
sum of the whole, but, on the contrary, a chaos of rules and
exceptions, empirically stated and confusedly thrown to-
gether. That this is so, is not so much the fault of Prof.
Benfey, as of the Indian grammarians, from whom, and not
from the Sanskrit literature itself, he has drawn the materi-
als out of which he has constructed his grammar : doubtless
his statement is the best that could be derived from such
sources ; its imperfections only prove that the native gram-

* See above, p. 213, etc.

f Vollstandige Grammatik der Sanskritsprache, § 127, etc.
VOL. v. 50

388

marians occupy with reference to this department of gram-
mar the same position as to other departments also ; that
while they are laborious and ingenious assemblers and ar-
rangers of particular facts, their shallow philosophy, and
laboriously unnatural and arbitrary method, render them
utterly unreliable guides for us to a true knowledge of the
Sanskrit language, since their rules require to be explained,
and limited, and re-arranged, by the light of the very facts
which they attempt to classify and account for. I referred,
at the close of my former remarks upon the subject, to
this untrustworthiness of those who had been our chief au-
thorities with reference to it, and expressed my opinion, that
a rational and exhaustive theory of the principles producing
the phenomena of verbal accentuation in Sanskrit, could
only be arrived at by a careful study of the phenomena
themselves, as laid before us in the various accented Yedic
texts. I was then already engaged in assembling from the
text of the Atharva-Veda all the material which could aid
in elucidating the matter, all the passages in which the ac-
cent was not determined by, or in accordance with, the most
general rules of accentuation, and which accordingly sug-
gested more special rules, or appeared to be anomalous and
exceptional cases ; and as I have now completed the collec-
tion, I take this opportunity of presenting it to the Society,
hoping that it will be found not without value as a contribu-
tion to the theory of Sanskrit accent. So far as was in my
power, I have classified and explained the facts collected,
presenting them in connection with the rules which they
illustrate, and have thus been compelled to go over in part
the same ground which I formerly traversed ; if of a portion
of them I am unable to give a satisfactory account, their
statement here will at any rate tend to render possible their
future explanation, by facilitating their examination by oth-
ers, and their farther comparison with kindred facts, to be
derived from the other accented texts.

The first and most general rule for the accentuation of the
verb in the Sanskrit sentence is this. In a direct or inde-
pendent sentence, or clause of a sentence, the finite verb is
made enclitic upon any word preceding it which is directly
connected with it in construction. It matters not what part
of the sentence that word may be which stands before the
verb; whether subject or predicate, whether direct or indi-

389

rect object, or other limiting circumstance, it takes away
the accent from the verb itself. Take as instances the fol-
lowing clauses.

fiflolT

ambdyo yanty ddhvabhih (i. 4. 1) ; qivd' bhava (iii. 28. 3) ;

tat krnmo brdhma (iii. 30. 4) ; tdsya bhdjayate 'hd nah (i. 5. 2);

abhi krandaprd trdsai/a (v. 21. 4) ; d' viro strajdyatdm (iii. 23. 2).

Even if other unaccented words intervene between the '
accent and the verb, the effect upon the latter remains the
same : thus

PIT ^•SllRl -H^tri

mddhund tvd khandmasi (i. 34. 1) ; ndmas te rudra krnmah
(xi. 2. 3).

It is well known that, by the operation of this rule, the
Sanskrit verb is in a large majority of cases deprived of
its accent. Thus verbal forms of the root ^, kar, which
are perhaps found in the Vedic texts with greater frequency
and in greater variety than those of any other root, occur
in the Atharvan four hundred and ninety-eight times ; but
only one hundred and forty-six times do they maintain their
own proper accent; in the remaining three hundred and
fifty-two instances they are accentless or enclitic.

If, however, the verb stands at the head of the sentence, it
cannot, of course, be encliticized, but retains its accent ; thus

*TT

darqdya md ydtudlid'ndn (iv. 20. 6) ; vrgcd'mi gdtrtindm bdhu'n
(vi. 65. 2).

This is in accordance with Greek usage, by which a word
usually enclitic, remains orthotone, if it stands first in the
sentence. As the Sanskrit has no proclitics, its sentences
always commence with an accented word.

390

As regards the working of this rule, it is to be remarked
that in poetry each pdda, or ultimate subdivision of the verse,
is treated as if it constituted an independent clause, and a
verb standing at the head of it remains orthotone, even
though preceded in another pdda by words directly depend-
ent upon it. The following is an instance :

dhdtur devasya satyena Jcrnomi pativedanam (ii. 36. 2).

Other cases are i. 8. 3,' 4 ; 17. 1 ; 31. 1. ii. 9. 4, 6. iii. 10.
12. v. 22. 12. vi. 54. 2 ; 60. 3, etc., etc.

But farther, if the verb is preceded in the sentence or pdda
only by a vocative, it retains its accent. The reason of this
is sufficiently obvious. The vocative really forms no part of
the sentence to which it is attached ; it is neither subject
nor predicate ; it is a mere excrescence, a parenthesis ; it is
not, then, so connected in construction with the verb that
the latter can be made dependent upon it with respect to
accent. We have, accordingly,

si'te vdnddmahe tvd (iii. 17. 8) ; viqve devd vdsavo rdJcshate 'mam
(i. 30. 1). It is unnecessary to cite more of the numerous
illustrations of this principle which are to be found in the
text.

By the first rule, as stated, the verb is made dependent
for accent only upon some word construed directly with it.
If, then, a sentence be composed of several clauses, a verb
standing at the head of any one of them will keep its own
accent. Instances are

pd'tu grd'vd pd'tu somo no dnhasah (vi. 3. 2) ;

aha drdtim dvidah syondm (ii. 10. 7) ;

viqvakarman ndmas te pdhy dsmd'n (equal to pdhi asmd'n)
(ii. 35. 4).

391

And even if the object of the verb precede the latter, it
does not take away its accent, provided it be also at the same
time the object of another verb : thus

ydtudhd'nasya somapa jahi prajd'm ndyasva ca (i. 8. 3).
Here the first verb is accented as standing at the head of the
pdda, the second as commencing a new clause ; the division
of the sentence being made between the common object and
the latter of the two verbs. A similar case, in which a com-

lly to the former
is

. ,

mon subject is regarded as belonging especiall
of two verbs, and the latter one is accented, i

FFTT

crnotu nah subhdgd bodhatu tmdnd (vii. 48. 1).

It is not very often that a division of the sentence into
separate clauses thus takes place within the pdda, and that
at the same time a verb happens to stand first after the divis-
ion. And as the phenomenon is an interesting one, as indi-
cating the necessity that the word to whose accent that of
the verb is subordinated must be immediately connected in
construction with the latter, and not a part of any other
clause, I give here a complete list of all the instances of its
occurrence found in the Atharvan. They are i. 8. 3 ; 17. 2.
ii. 5. 4 (bis) ; 10. 7. iv. 5. 6 ; 11. 12 ; 21. 1. v. 2. 9. vi. 3. 1,
2; 4.2; 9.1; 44.1; 77.1; 99.3; 136.2. vii. 14. 4; 48.1.
viii.1.12; 2.3; 4.1,13,18. ix.1.8; 6.61; 10.6. x.4.12;
8. 26. xii. 3. 31. xiii. 1. 30 ; 4. 48, 55. xvi. 6. 1. xviii. 1. 23.
xix. 45. 5 ; 49. 6 ; 58. 4. There is no case in the text in
which a verb occupying this position is not accented, unless
it be the following :

tapto gharmo duhyate vdm ishe mddhu (vii. 73. 1).
If this is to be translated, as the analogv of the next verse
seems to indicate, " the gharma is heated ; honey is poured
out to you for food," then the verb needs to oe accented
^jpOrr , duhydte, and the reading should be so amended.

In some of these cases, the accentuation is an important
indication of the way in which the structure of the sentence
is to be understood.

392

From tins list I have omitted, however, all those not in-
frequent cases which come under the operation of the famil-
iar rule given by the Indian grammarians, that a verb is
accented if immediately preceded by another verb. It is
perfectly obvious that such a case is in reality only one com-
ing under the general rule for the accenting of a verb at the
head of its own clause in the sentence : there can be but one
finite verb in a single clause; if, then, any^ verb immediately
follows another verb, it necessarily occupies the initial posi-
tion, and cannot be encliticized. Thus, in the sentence

FTFTT

tdsmd arcdma krndvdma nislikrtim (vi. 27. 1),
the accent of the second verb is in no manner owing to the
contiguity of the word which precedes it, but to the fact that
it is followed by the only word directly connected with it in
construction : it would equally require to be accented if the
sentence were thus arranged ;
ir *^ I i r^ i

FTFT

arcdma tdsmdi Jcrndvdma nishkrtim,

and could be made enclitic only by having its own subject

placed before it ; as

rFFfT ^RFT Pifrl

tdsmd arcdma nishkrtim krnavdma.

We might take one of the sentences previously given, and,
by altering a little its arrangement, seem to bring its accentu-
ation within the scope of the Indian rule ; as

grd'vd pdtu pd'tu s6mo no ahhasah ;

whereas in fact the second <TTrT, patu, would still continue to
retain its accent for the same reason as before, and for no
other. Farther illustration is unnecessary : it is only to be
wondered at that a rule so empirical as that of the Indian
grammars should have maintained itself so long in currency,
and that the true meaning of the phenomenon should not
have been sooner remarked.

393

But there is another class of cases in the Atharvan, in
which the verb retains its accent in. virtue of its initial posi-
tion, while nevertheless it is only by an arbitrary division
of the sentence that it conies to be looked upon and treated
as occupying that position. This will be best illustrated by
an example:

rffa

a! no goshu bhdjatd' " prajd'ydm (vi. 55. 2),
" Upon us kine bestow upon us progeny." This is capable
of two modes of division ; the comma may be placed either
before or after the verb ; we may read " Upon us kine be-
stow, upon us progeny," or " Upon us kine, bestow upon
us progeny." The former is the more natural and easy ;
but the latter is not inadmissible, even in the English trans-
lation, and is notably easier in the Sanskrit original. In
the first case the verb would be enclitic, in the second it
would be orthotone ; that in the text it actually does retain
its accent shows that the sentence requires to be divided in
the second manner. Another example is

jihvd' jyd' Widvati kulmalam vd'Tc (v. 18. 8),
" Lingua ejus in nervum convertitur in sagittam vox ;" here,
too, the verb is accented in virtue of the division " Lingua
ejus in nervum, convertitur in sagittam vox." We have,
then, the rule, that if the verb be both preceded and followed
by either a subject or an object, to each of which it equally
in idea belongs, it may be regarded as directly construed
with the latter of the two, and may accordingly receive the
accent.

Instances coming under the action of this rule are not
very rare in the Atharvan. They are* iv. 5. 2 ; 9. 9. v. 18.
8; 27. 6. vi. 55. 2; 92. 3; 106. 1; 107. 1-4. vii. 4. 1.
viii. 9. 13 ; 10. 12, 13, 22-29. ix. 5. 37. x. 8. 8. xii. 3. 25,
48. xiii. 1. 19 ; 2. 26 ; 3. 12. xiv. 1. 64. xv. 3. 4, 5, 10 ;

* In a few of these passages, viz. viii. 10. 12, 13, 22-29. xv. 4. 1-6, the
accent has, owing to a misunderstanding, been omitted from the verbs in the
published text, and requires to be restored, in accordance with the unanimous
authority of the manuscripts.

394

4. 1-6. xviii. 3. 8. In a few of these passages, however,
the accent of the verb admits also of being explained in
another manner, as we shall see hereafter.

But on the other hand, it is quite as often the case in sen-
tences of this character that the more obvious mode of di-
vision is followed, so that the verb remains unaccented.
Instances are i. 12. 3. iii. 13. 6. viii. 10. 16. ix. 10. 26.
xi. 9. 10. xv. 12. 5, 9. xvii. 17. xviii. 2. 7 ; 4. 11. xix.
10. 7 ; 36. 2 ; etc., etc.

Before proceeding to take notice of farther instances of
verbal accentuation in the independent sentence, which are
to be regarded as more special exceptions to the rules already-
stated, or as isolated and irregular cases, requiring particu-
lar explanation, we will consider the condition of tne verb
in a dependent clause.

The Sanskrit^ like the German, distinguishes in a marked
manner its accessory and dependent from its direct and in-
dependent clauses, by its different treatment of the verb in
the two cases. But while the German removes the verb of
the subordinate sentence from its natural position, and places
it at the end of the sentence, thus changing, for instance,
"Ich habe dem Manne das Buch gegeben" to "Da ich dem
Manne das Buch gegeben habe," the Sanskrit, on the other
hand, alters in a similar case not the position, but the ac-
centuation, of the verb, changing it from enclitic to ortho-
tone. We have, accordingly, the following general rule:
the Sanskrit verb retains in a dependent clause its own
proper accent ; and that, too, even at the cost, in case the
verb be one compounded with a preposition, of the accent
of the prefixed preposition.

As in German the dependent clause is wont to be intro-
duced by some word of such signification as necessarily
conditions its dependency, a relative or a subordinating con-
junction, so also in Sanskrit it generally contains some form,
of declension or of derivation, from the relative pronominal
stem ?r, ya. The phenomenon, indeed, has on this account
been always hitherto thus stated : " the verb is accented in
a sentence which contains a form of zr, ya ;" but it is im-
possible that we should remain contented with so empirical
a rule as this ; we must inquire in virtue of what principle
it is that such words have a power to make the verb ortho-
tone. And that the principle is indeed what it has above

395

been stated to be may be very satisfactorily shown. For
other particles than those derived from the stem g-, ya, if
they have a like meaning, and possess the same power to
render the sentence dependent, exercise the same influence
upon the verb.

Thus ^frj^, cet (which the pada-text divides into ^I^TI> ca
it), which means always distinctly "if," and is accordingly
equivalent to zrf^, yadi, preserves, as the latter would do,
the accent of the verb with which it is connected. Instances
of its occurrence are ii. 30. 2. v. 17. 3, 8, etc.

But ^", ca, itself, without always losing its proper signifi-
cation "and," or meaning distinctly "if," is not very infre-
quently made use of to assist in indicating the conditionality
of a clause, whose verb is then left orthotone. An instance is

so, cd 'tisrj&j juhuyd'n nd cd 'tisrjen ndjuhuydt (xv. 12. 3),
"And should he give permission, let him sacrifice; and
should he not give permission, let him not sacrifice." Some-
times, indeed, the particle almost precisely equals srf^, yadi,
as in the following passage :

Rrtifri

hihste ddattd purusham ydcitd'm ca no, ditsati (xii. 4. 13),
" TJngiven she harms a man, if he will not give her when
demanded." The conditionality of the clause is the main
efficient cause of the accenting of the verb ; whether the par-
ticle has a full conditional meaning, or is employed merely
as an expedient for facilitating the expression, is a matter of
minor consequence. The other Atharvan passages of this
character are viii. 10. 81. xi. 3. 28, 29, 32-49a, 55, 56. xii.
4. 1, 16, 19, 25.

Whether a clause in any case, without the presence of a
word conditioning or indicating its dependent character,
can be in such wise dependent as that its verb should be
thereby rendered orthotone, is a question for the solution of
which the Atharvan hardly presents sufficient material.
There is but a single passage which seems to speak clearly
with reference to this point :

VOL. V. 51

396

udakdm yd'caty ud gdyati (ix. 6. 48),

" If he offers water" (the hymn is extolling the merit of
hospitable attentions paid to guests), " he sings a sdman"
(that is, "it is of equal virtue with the religious action of
singing a sdman1'1). Here the conditionally of the first
clause seems to be the sufficient cause of the accent of the
verb ; and on the other hand, a comparison of the preceding
clauses, as

abhi vadatiprd stduti,

"If he greets them, he utters praise," would seem, to lead
us to the recognition of this rule : that in such a situation the
verb was left orthotone, except when compounded with a
preposition, in which latter case the preposition still retained
the accent.* But this single passage is not sufficient to es-
tablish a general rule : it is to be hoped that material may
be derived from the other accented texts which shall clear
up the matter. There is, so far as I have observed, but one
other passage in the Atharvan, where it seems necessary to
regard a clause as conditional which contains no indicatory
particle; viz:

etdd vo jyotih pitaras trti'yam pdncdudanam brahmdne sjdm
daddti (ix. 5. 11),

" This is (i. e. wins) your third (i. e. highest) brightness, ye
Fathers, that one gives to a Brahman a goat with five oda-
nas." And here the verb is left unaccented, although not a
compounded one. Whether the accentuation in either of
these passages is erroneous, or how the seeming discrepancy
between them is to be otherwise explained, I must leave an
open question, until more light can be thrown upon the sub-
ject from other sources.

There is one other passage which might appear to re-
quire consideration in this connection :

* See Benfey's Grammar, § 127. 1 (remark), 5, 9 (remark 1), 11, for instances
of this difference in accentual usage between the simple and compounded verb.

397

lakshma Tcurva iti many ate (xii. 4. 6),

" If he thinks to himself ' I am making a mark ;' " yet the
evidence to be derived from this is not wholly unambiguous,
as it would not be altogether inadmissible to suppose the
influence of the relative pronoun with which the verse be-
gins to extend itself to this part also.

It is a well known fact that, by Vedic usage, the particle
1%, hi, always accents the verb with which it is construed
(as does also its negative, ^rf^, ndhi). This also I ascribe to
the conditional force inherent in it. It is, indeed, originally
possessed of no such force ; etymologically, it seems to be
merely an asseverative particle, akin with |[, ha, and ^, aha.
It is, accordingly, in the later language not infrequently
employed as an expletive, to fill out the artificial structure
of the qloka ; and it is sometimes, even in the Yeda, found
so used, having a hardly appreciable significance in the sen-
tence in which it occurs. But it is ordinarily made use of
to accompany and point out a circumstance which is put
forward as the ground of, the reason for, the inducement to,
some other action ; and by virtue of this usage, it has ac-
quired a certain degree of causative or conditional force.
The transition of meaning may be illustrated by an exam-
ple or two. If we say " Help us, thou art surely mighty,"
(German "Hilf uns, du bist ja machtig,") there is no distinct
subordination of the latter clause to the former, and yet the
second clause is evidently alleged as the reason of the first,
and it is but a step farther to say " Help us, for thou art
mighty." The Sanskrit sentence

prd no ava bdlavdn hy dsi,

would ordinarily, and with perfect correctness, be transla-
ted as equivalent to the latter form of the phrase ; while it
would nevertheless, strictly taken, rather correspond to the
former. Indeed, as f^, hi, is never allowed to stand at the
beginning of a sentence in Sanskrit, but must always follow
some other word, and as it thus, although not enclitic,
holds a subordinate position, it is still more clearly shown

398

to be unequal in force to our conjunction "for." In Ger-
man, not even " for" gives to the clause which it introduces
a dependent form : we say " Hilf uns, denn du bist mach-
tig: yet the difference between this and the dependent
clause "... weil du machtig bist," "... because thou art
mighty," is rather a formal than a logical one. There is a
continuous scale of dependency in the phrases "thou art
surely mighty," "for thou art mighty, "since thou art
mighty," "because that thou art mighty," and while in Ger-
man only the last is regarded as dependent, in Sanskrit the
first is treated as if equivalent to any of the rest, and its
verb is accented, according to the general rule for dependent
clauses. We may reverse the order of the clauses in the
example we have taken, and write

bdlavdn hy dsiprd no ava;

and here too we have the verb accented, as if the transla-
tion were "Since thou art mighty, help us," "Da du ja
machtig bist, so hilf uns;" while, if closely interpreted, it is
rather, " Thou art surely mighty, (then) help us," " Du bist
ja machtig, (also) hilf uns;" the particle hardly exercising a
stronger force than to establish the relation of the two clauses
as protasis and apodosis.

In almost every instance of the occurrence of f|;, Az, in
the Atharvan, it has more or less evidently this semi-condi-
tional force. Thus we have

ugrd' hi Icanvajdmlhani td'm dbhdkshi sdhasvafim (ii. 25. 1),
" Since it is a fierce destroyer of the kanva, it, the mighty,
I have made use of." And again,

m te* muncantdm vimuco hi sdnti (vi. 112. 3),

*' Let them release him, for they are releasers." It would

* The printed text gives, on the authority of all the manuscripts, te ; but
the emendation as above is evidently necessary. la many other «ascs also,
*)>e manuscripts confound te and te,

S99

be easy to multiply examples, but it is believed that enough
has already been said to establish and illustrate that which
it was our purpose to show ; that the particle in question
derives its power to render the verb orthotone from the
weak causative signification which the usage of the lan-
guage has given it.

With regard to the particle rnr, net (pada-text ^ism, na it),
usage is divided. It occurs, in connection with a verb, but
four times in the Atharvan. In two passages, viz. vi. 50. 1.
xiii. 1. 12, it renders the verb orthotone, as if, like the kin-
dred particle ^TT , cet, already treated of, it had acquired a
subordinating force, and were equivalent to Latin ne, Ger-
man dass nichf. ! ; in the other two passages, viz. ii. 27. 1.
xviii. 2. 58, it leaves the verb enclitic, as if the ^, it, merely
strengthened the force of the negative, as should be its most
natural effect.

The three particles =5^, cet, q^, net, and f^;, hi, illustrate
in an interesting manner each other's history. Neither of
them has etymologically any relative or subordinating qual-
ity ; they mean originally simply " and surely," " not surely,"
" surely ;" but each has in the usage of the language devel-
oped out of this plain asseverative signification another
which gives it the power to render the clause in which it is
found dependent; and as "if," "lest," and "since," they
make orthotone the verb with which they are construed.

The particle fsir^, kim, nowhere in the Atharvan exercises
an influence upon the accent of the verb in its clause, even
where, as in vii. 56. 6, 8. viii. 4. 14(7). xviii. 1. 12, 33, it
appears to ask a direct question. In v. 11. 5, pdda c, a part
of the manuscripts do indeed accent the verb, yet the weight
of authority is in favor of the text as printed. When the
particle means "what?", "why?", or "how!", as in v. 13. 7.
vi. 45. 1. ix. 10. 18, etc., etc., of course no effect upon the
accent would be expected from it.

We have thus seen that the direct subordination of one
clause of a sentence to another has an effect to render ortho-
tone the verb of the subordinated clause. We have also
remarked, when treating of the particle f|;, hi, that the sub-
ordination does not always require to be absolute, but that
a distinctly defined relation of two of the clauses of a sen-
tence to one another as protasis and apodosis was sufficient to

400

preserve the accent of the verb in the former clause. "We
have now farther to notice, that this principle has in the
usage of the language received a somewhat inorganic exten-
sion ; that it has been stretched to cover cases to which it did
not in strictness apply. Such I conceive, namely, to be the
explanation of the accent of the verb in a very considerable
number of passages, where two clauses stand as correlatives
to one another, or even where there is such a parallelism
between them that they may be regarded as in a manner
correlative. The coordination is treated as if it were a sub-
ordination ; the first of the coordinate clauses is looked upon
as a protasis, to which the other constitutes an apodosis, and
the verb of the former is allowed to remain orthotone.

Thus, for instance, when T&Q— T&X, anya-anya, "the one
• — the other," stand opposed to one another, as subject or as
object, in two like clauses, the verb of the first clause re-
tains its accent. Take as examples

^f H" $RT ^NIH

ddksham te anya dvd'tu* vy anyo vdtu ydd rdpah (iv. 13. 2) ;

ny anydm cikyur nd ni cikyur any dm (ix. 10. 16).
The other instances are vii. 81. 1. ix. 9. 20 ; 10. 26. x. 7. 42.
xiii. 2. 11. Also the passage vii. 35. la, b, may properly be
regarded as coming under this rule, although only one w^r,
anya, that of the first clause, is there expressed ; the other
is contained in idea in the second clause.

In two cases, viz. x. 8. 36. xi. 8. 33, we have, instead of
53^r, anya, ^r— i^, eka — eka, with the same meaning, and
with a similar effect upon the accent of the verb.

In x. 8. 7, 13. xi. 4. 22, we find a like correlation pro-
duced by the use of gv— im, ardha — ardha, "the one half—
the other half."

Bat even where the correlation is less clearly and sharply
brought out, if there is nevertheless a distinct antithesis, the
same phenomenon of verbal accentuation is not infrequently
presented. Thus we have in vi. 11. 3 an antithesis of " else-

* The reading of the printed text is false, and must be amended to agree
with this.

401

where" and "here;" in xii. 2. 32, 55, of "those there" and
"these here;" in iv. 5. 7, of "others" and "myself;" in vi.
67. 3, of motion "away" and "hither;" in ix. 10. 9, of "to-
day" and "yesterday;" in ix. 10. 23, of an idea and its nega-
tion. Moreover, wherever srr— ar, vd — vd, "either — or," are
construed in two clauses with two separate verbs, the corre-
lation is regarded as distinct enough to occasion the accent-
ing of the first verb ; the instances are not numerous, but
they are all those in which this particle so occurs ; they are
v. 1. 7 (where, however, the effect of the relative in the sec-
ond clause might possibly be supposed to extend back into
the first), viii. 4. 9. In the following passage,

tdsya vd tvdm mdna ichd1 sd vd lava (xviii. 1. 16),
the accent of the verb is unquestionably due to the same
cause, although the sentence is incomplete, a part of the
second clause, including its verb, being left to be supplied in
idea from the first. More numerous are the cases in which
the antithesis of ^(— % ca — ca, "both — and," produces the
same effect : they are ii. 6. 2 ; 13. 3. v. 4. 9 ; 23. 7 (where
we have also, as in ix. 10. 23, the antithesis of an idea and
its negation), vi. 110. 1. xiii. 1. 34 (ter). xvii. 6. xix. 24.
5, 6. In vii. 5. 5 is a like antithesis of 3rT— 3rT, uta — uta,
unless we are rather to suppose the correlative force to lie
in the two contrasted instrumentals. The following passage,

stnyaq ca sdrvdh svdpdya qunaq ce 'ndrasaJchd cdran (iv. 5. 2),
has been included above among the instances of initial ac-
centuation, but is perhaps rather to be explained as an anti-
thetical sentence of the class here treated of, of which the
second member is defective, its verb requiring to be supplied
from the first, as in the passage xviii. 1. 16, just now cited.
Several other of the passages formerly referred to may also
receive a similar explanation : thus iv. 9. 9 (where smrarr ,
jambhayat, perhaps requires to be amended to crozr, jamlhaya\
v. 27. 6. vi. 107. 1-4. vii. 4. 1. ix. 5. 37. xii. 3. 25 : while
vi. 106. 1. viii. 9. 13. xiii. 3. 12. xiv. 1. 64, admit of being
looked upon as defective antitheses of the other kinds here
treated of.

402

Besides these, there are a few passages, composed each of
two clauses, in the first of which the verb is left orthotone,
where the antithesis is less distinctly marked than in the
cases hitherto noted, while nevertheless their accentuation
seems to be referable to the same principle. They are vi.
32. 2; 83.1. ix.5.22; 8.10. xii.3.18. xiii.2.30b. xiv.1.13.
Had we these passages only, we should not venture to derive
from them any such principle ; but, having well established
it as a tendency of the language to assume, even on slight
occasion, an antithetical relation, and to accent accordingly,
we are justified in presuming its extension to these cases
also.

We have thus far found all the phenomena of verbal ac-
centuation of which we have taken note to be occasioned,
more or less regularly and directly, by the working of a
single principle ; that, namely, the verb in an independent
clause is accented only when occupying the initial position,
being otherwise made enclitic upon any member of the same
clause by which it is preceded ; while, on the other hand, it
maintains in a dependent clause its own proper accent. But
there are in the Atharvan a number of instances of accented
verbs, which do not seem to fall so clearly within the sphere
of action of this principle : either they are the effect of a
wholly irregular extension of it beyond its proper limits, or
they are due to the operation of some other principle, which
needs to be evolved and stated, or they are isolated cases,
destitute of all analogies, and on that account of doubtful
authenticity. Before we proceed to the consideration of
these remaining cases, we must take notice of the condition
in which the accentuation of the Atharvan is presented by
the manuscripts of the text now extant. The whole text
is very much less accurately and correctly constructed than
is that of the Bik : there are to be found in it gross blunders,
of which the correction is almost at the first sight apparent,
and many passages are in a very corrupt state, requiring
extensive emendation. But it especially abounds in palpa-
ble errors of accentuation : many of these we have even not
hesitated to amend in the published edition : thus, words of
frequent occurrence have been in an instance or two accen-
ted upon the wrong syllable ; nominatives have been erro-
neously taken for vocatives, and deprived of their accent, or
vocatives have been falsely regarded as nominatives, and

408

have received an accent to which they were not entitled ;
the true point of division 'between the two pdaas of a line
has been mistaken, and vocatives and verbal forms have
been in consequence wrongly accented, or left unaccented,
as they were wrongly supposed to stand, or not to stand, at
the beginning of the second pdda ; the verb of a clearly
dependent clause, even after a form of the relative ff, ya, has
been left enclitic ; and so on. More than a hundred such
cases have been corrected by us in the published text, and
not a few which we have left untouched still call for emend-
ation : our commentary will, of course, fully explain and
account for the alterations we have made in the text offered
by the manuscripts, and will point out the places where we
suppose that farther alteration is demanded. It may then,
of course, not very infrequently be the case, that verbal
forms are erroneously accented by the manuscripts ; it would
be strange if it were not so, at least in some instances ; yet
in so much uncertainty has the subject of verbal accentua-
tion hitherto been involved, that we have only very rarely,
and in cases which seemed quite clear, ventured to take away
from a verb an accent which our authorities gave to it.
Sometimes, indeed, we have allowed ourselves even that
liberty : I will proceed to give the instances here, in order
to avoid the possibility of having omitted from this paper
material which ought to be embraced in it.
Thus, in iv. 32. 1, we have read

sdha ojah pushyati viqvam dnushdk,

while all the manuscripts give ^)IT: jcg-fH", °Jah pushyati, be-

cause the former reading seems better to suit the sense, and
because the Kig-Veda, in the corresponding passage (x. 83.
1), leaves the verb unaccented. It might, nevertheless, not
be impossible to account for the reading as- given by the
Atharvan manuscripts : if we regard the two words preced-
ing the verb as objects of the verb of the preceding pdda,
or, better, if we look upon the word following the verb as
a noun constituting an independent object of it, translating
"might, strength — he acquires everything in succession,"
then the verb would be entitled to be accented in virtue of
its initial position.

VOL. v. 52

404
Again, in iv. 31. 2, stands in the text

agnir iva manyo tvishitdh sahasva sendni'r nah sahure

hutd edhi,

whereas all the sarihitd manuscripts (excepting one, which is
amended to the above reading) give ST^^ST, sahasva. The
Bik (x. 84. 2) leaves the verb unaccented, which, with the
pada manuscript, and the amended sanhitd, seemed to us
sufficient authority for the reading which we have adopted.
Yet even here I do not regard the accenting of the verb as
certainly erroneous : it might be defended by the analogy of
vi. 32. 2, and of the other passages cited with the latter above,
as an indistinct antithesis.

Another case, iv. 31. 7, is clearer ; we read

pdrdjitdso dpa ni layantdm,

spite of the authority of the manuscripts, which are unani-
mous in favor of HUMI*?., Idyantdm. Here also the Bik (x.
84. 7) has the former reading, nor does there seem to be any
conceivable reason why the verb should be accented, nor, if
it were so, could the preceding preposition maintain its ac-
cent also, as the manuscripts allow it to do. We have evi-
dently a mere blunder of the manuscripts to deal with in
this passage.

In iii. 2. 1, all the manuscripts read

agnir no dutdh pratyelu vidvd'n,

which we have altered to qrzrFTj prdty etu. The analogy of
the first line of the preceding hymn was sufficient authority
for the alteration, and it is not easy to see how the manu-
scripts should have come to commit the error of accenting
the verb here ; unless, possibly, they were led away by the
fancied analogy of the last pdda of the second verse in the

405

preceding hymn, where it is in fact the presence of a f^, hi,
that makes the verb orthotone.*
In v. 12. 2, the manuscripts have

tdnunapdt pathd rtdsya yd'ndn mddhvd samanjdnt svaddyd
sujihva,

while the printed text gives UdjJi, svadayd. The latter
reading was adopted on the authority of the corresponding
passage in the Eik (x. 110. 2), as there seemed to be no rea-
son requiring the verb to be accented. Yet here also, it
might be possible to defend the reading of the manuscripts :
if the accusative in the first pdda be regarded as the object
more directly of the participle than of the verb, as would
be allowable, the latter might be looked upon as occupying
an initial position, and therefore entitled to retain its accent.
Again, in vi. 181. 2, the edition has

d'kute sdm iddm namah,

while all the manuscripts agree in reading qtir:, ndmah. The
propriety of the emendation cannot be questioned: the
false reading may have been a mere slip of the pen on the
part of the scribe of the original manuscript, or the word
may have been mistaken for the frequent noun rrir:, ndmah.
Another very similar instance is found in xviii. 2. 36,

qdm tapa md' 'ti topo dgne ma! tanvdm tdpah:
here, too, there seems to be no assignable reason why the
last word should be accented : I suspect it to have been
taken, by a blunder, for the common noun f^q": tdpah, "pen-
ance," and would alter the reading to rT^sf rTT:, tanvdm tapah.
Once more, in xiv. 1. 16,

tad addhdtdya id viduh,

* But where, by an error of the press, prdty etu stands, instead of pratyttu,
which the manuscripts correctly give.

406

all the Atharvan manuscripts give ^fl^p, id viduh : as the

accent of the verb seemed in this passage quite unexplaina-
ble, we have not hesitated to amend it to an agrement with
the parallel passage of the Eik (x. 85. 16).

These are all the instances in which we have taken away
from any verbal form an accent given to it by the manu-
scripts ; excepting two, which bear plainly on their face the
evidence that they are blunders, being accented upon the
wrong syllable. These are i. 24. 1, =^cf =^ rupdm cakre, for

which all the manuscripts have ^, cdkre, while the true
accentuation of the form, if accented at all, would be :3Sf,
cakre: and xii. 4. 28, ^HT d^jPd, devd' vrgcanti, in place of
which the manuscripts unanimously read omEd, vr'gcanti,
although only the accentuation cftufcj, vrqcanti, could be tol-

erated. It is sufficiently clear that, in both these cases, the
errors are due to a slip of the pen of the scribe who copied
the original manuscript from which all ours are descended,
the mark of the accent being set over the wrong syllable.

In the light of these facts, which indicate clearly what
allowance is to be made for inaccuracies and errors in the
text, we may now proceed to examine the remaining instan-
ces of accented verbs which it presents.

In iii. 23. 5, we have

yds tubhyam qdm dsac chdm u tdsmdi tvdm bhdva.

The most natural ending to the verse would seem to be

o _

qdm u ydsmdi tvdm bhdvah,

"and to whom, thou in turn mayest be propitious;" and it
is perhaps not impossible that this is felt to be virtually
present in the reading as given, ' and that therefore the im-
perative is accented ; yet there is room to suspect ITST, bhdva,
to be a mere slip of the pen for irsr, bhava.
Again, in iv. 1. 4c,

mahd'n mahi' dskabhdyad wjdtdh,

407

it is very hard to see why the verb should have in this pdda
an accent which it lacks in the preceding one, where the con-
struction seems to be the same. Probably we have to amend
to ?rW, askabhdyad.

In verse 7 of the same hymn, in the last pdda,

Icavir devo nd ddbhdyat svadhd'vdn,

we seem, indeed, to have an accented verbal form ; but it is
only in seeming; for a^ronr, ddbhdyat, is unquestionably to be
amended to ^ifor, ddbhdya, dative of 5^, dabha ; and the pas-
sage means, he "is not for a harming," i. e. "is not one who
can be harmed." This construction, frequent enough in the
Rik, is quite rare in the Atharvan, and in one or two other
instances has been badly blundered over by the establishers
of the text. If we had here, it may be remarked, a verbal
form requiring accent, it would have to be accented 5>r
dabhdydt,

Again, in iv. 19. 2,

nd tdtra bhaydm dsti ydtra prdpnoshy oshadhe,
I am inclined to attribute the hardly otherwise explainable
accent of the first verb to an original error of transcription,
and to amend to wrf^T, bhaydm asti.

Again, in v. 18. 4,

jqTTJrT

rwr vd'i kshatrdm ndyati hdnti vdrcah,

we might suspect ^nt%, ndyati, to be an error for -iuiri, nayati;

yet it seems better here to assume an antithesis between the
two clauses, of force enough to render orthotone the verb of
the first.

Again, in vi. 21. 3, we have

utd sthd ke$adr'hhamr dtho ha Tceqavdrdhanih.

408

Here, too, it may be made a question whether we are to find
a sufiicient antithesis to account for the accent of the verb,
or whether we are to suppose that the accent-sign has been
slipped away from the ^q-, stha, to the succeeding syllable.
I incline to prefer the former.

Again, in vi. 32. 1, the printed text gives

antarddve juhutd sv btdt,

but it is by an error of the press, for sj«f.m, juhutd', which is

the reading of the manuscripts. But I conceive this to be
a reversal of the original error by which the verb got its
accent in the manuscripts, as I am unable to find any reason
why it should be left orthotone.
In the passage vi. 60. 2,

$PTH

ango nv dryamann asyd' anyd'h sdmanam d'yati,

the ^ocfa-text divides the last word srssrcHFn, d-dyati, thus

giving the verb an accent. But I do not see how the form,
which is elsewhere always singular, can be borne as a plural ;
it may, perhaps, be amended to tJiiifcf, that is, smadfoi, d'
ayanti.

A similar case is vi. 131. 3,

tdtas tvdm punar d'yasi,

which the jpoda-text understands to be STT-swdfyi, d-dyasi,

whereas it is rather JsrriWijf^ri , d' ayasi.

Again, in vi. 78. 2,

rayyd' sahdsravarcase 'md'u std'm dnupdkshitdu,
I can discover no ground for preserving to the verb its ac-
cent, and believe the accent-sign to have become lost from
under it. I would read ^TFT°, stdm, etc.

409

Again, in vi. 128. 1,

iddm rdshtrdm dsdd iti,

we are perhaps to assume that an accent-sign has been omit-
ted under the syllable T, ma, the restoration of which would
leave the verb unaccented.
Again, in viii. 10. 1,

iydm eve 'ddm bhavishydti' '&',

it may be that the last horizontal accent-sign has been slipped
away from its place, and that we have to amend to Mfdmnlfrii ,
bhavishyati' 'ti.

Had we these two instances only, of clauses cited by means
of the particle of quotation ^fn, iti, we should be inclined to
regard them as cases of the accenting of the verb in a de-
pendent clause ; since a quoted sentence is in fact a kind of
dependent sentence, and is so treated in some languages,
being distinguished in German, for instance, by the use of
the subjunctive instead of the indicative mood. And per-
haps we may be allowed to explain thus the accent of the
two clauses under consideration, even though no other analo-
gous passages can be adduced to support this explanation.
For, of all the numerous cases in the text (more than thirty),
where a clause containing a verb is cited by the particle
Tin, iti, these two are the only ones in which the verb re-
ceives an accent. Elsewhere, the quotation is made in the
form of an independent sentence, just as it would be spoken ;
and that, whether it be the direct object of a verb of speak-
ing, as in i. 7. 4, or whether it indicate the "reason why,"
or the " end for which" (which was its use in the two pas-
sages last quoted), as in x. 2. 5. Other instances are iv. 17. 4 ;
20. 6. y. 19. 9 ; 23. 1, etc., etc.

Again, in xiv. 1. 32,

vfyve devd'h krdnn ihd vo mdndnsi,

I can discover no reason why the verb should be accented,

410

and suspect the true reading to be 5hH^, krann ihd, a sign
of accent having been lost in the manuscripts.
Again, in xix. 31. 6,

^ ^TFrf^TT 5THTFT

ahdm pafuna'm adhipa' dsdni mayi pusktam pushtapatir dadhatu,
it seems very uncertain whether the antithesis can be re-
garded as being distinct enough to warrant the accenting of
the verb in the first pdda. And it is moreover to be noticed,
that in the nineteenth book of the text the manuscripts are
most especially faulty, so that their authority in doubtful
and difficult cases is of almost no weight whatever. I have
not pretended to give above all the instances in which we
have amended in this book the accentuation of verbs : a
record of them may be found among the foot-notes to each
page. We need not, then, hesitate to amend to tj^ifn, asdni,

if it shall seem desirable, in the passage now under consid-
eration.

In the passages thus far treated, we have been inclined to
suspect an error in the tradition of the text, where the verbal
accent has not appeared to be explainable by ordinary rules
and analogies. But there are others in which we seem to
discover irregular and anomalous applications of some of
the rules previously stated ; which we can hardly regard as
errors of transcription, but which may possibly oe, at least
in part, errors of apprehension on the part of those who es-
tablished the text. Whether they are to be understood in
this way, or whether they are true and faithfully recorded
phenomena of the Vedic language, only of a sporadic char-
acter, and not reducible to strict rule, may be better deter-
mined when we have before us cases of a like character from
the other accented texts also.

We have, in i 20. 1,

asmin yajne maruto mrddtd nah.

Here the verb is accented as immediately following a voca-
tive, although the latter does not stand at the head of a pdda,
and has not itself an accent, as ought to be the case, if the
verb is to remain orthotone.

A similar case is found in i. 32. 1 ;

411

iddm jandso viddiha mahdd brdhma vadishyati.

The reading fa^r, viddtha, may be looked upon as somewhat

suspicious here, since the sense requires rather an imperative
form than an indicative, and since the Atharvan offers no
other instance of a form in the present tense of either mood
from this root, as conjugated after the manner of the sixth
conjugation-class. But neither consideration is conclusive
against the genuineness of the reading, for analogous forms
occur in the Rik, and the substitution in the Veda of indica-
tive for imperative is by no means unknown. And the
passage is so closely analogous to xx. 127. 1,

sRT

iddm jand upa gruta ndrd$ansd stavishyate,

that it seems better to retain the word in question unchanged,

and not to amend it to fa^sT, viddtham, as it would be very

easy to do, making a fair sense. The accenting of the form
would be, as in the preceding case, an irregular extension of
the rule for accenting after a vocative. We might possibly
understand 75;, idam, as a mere exclamation, translating
"See here, ye people! hear!" which would account for the
accent ; but the analogy of ii. 12. 2, ^ ^m sfrrnr, iddm devdh

crnuta, is against it, nor do I know any other instance of
such a use of r^rr , idam.

Again, in i. 30. 1,

vigve devd vdsavo rdkshate 'mdm utd' "ditydjdgrtd yuydm asmin,
the accenting of the verb in the second clause may be looked
upon as of kindred character with that in the two passages
last treated of. Yet the sentence may be also so divided as
to make the verb virtually the first word in its clause ; if,
namely, we translate " All ye gods, ye Vasus, guard this
person ; and ye Adityas likewise, watch ye over him."
Again, in xiv. 2. 42, we have

VOL. v. 53

412

yuvdrh brahmdne -s numdnyamdndu br'haspate sdkdm mdraq ca
dattdm.

Here the structure of the sentence appears to be understood
as if the words between the vocative and the verb in the
second pdda were a kind of parenthesis merely, so that the
latter is accented as if it immediately followed the former.
" Do ye two .... 0 Brhaspati, Indra also along with you,
grant."

Again, in xi. 2. 2,

gune Tcroshtre mo! qdrirdni Jcdrtam aliklavebhyah, etc.,
we have the verb accented, as it seems to me, by an irregu-
lar application of the rule allowing the verb to be treated
as if directly construed with the following, instead of with
the preceding object. The first two words of this passage
do indeed stand in the same relation to the verb as the last
one, and, so far as they alone were concerned, the verb
would be entitled to remain accented : but the introduction
of the other two limiting words alters the case, and should
render it enclitic again : this, however, appears to have been
overlooked, or else deliberately neglected. I do not see any
other way of accounting for the accent of the verb here.
Again, in xviii. 4. 54, we have

urjobhdgoydimdmjajd'nd' 'gmd' 'nndndmd'dhipatyamjagd'ma.
The meaning and connection of this passage are very ob-
scure ; I do not understand them sumicentty to be able to
say whether the last verb is correctly accented, as being of
the same construction with the first, or whether it should
rather be made enclitic, as belonging to an independent
clause, or whether its accentuation is to be accounted for in
some other manner.

Again, in i. 17. 2c, d, is read

Irl^ld I

kanishthiM' ca tishthati tishthdd id dJiamdnir maki',

413

This seems to be an incomplete construction of the kind
noted above, where an antithesis sufficient to accent the
verb of the former clause is produced by the particles gr-g1,
ca-ca, "both — and." In this case the second clause con-
tains, instead of % ca, T^, it, but the effect may be looked
upon as being virtually the same.

A similar case, perhaps, in found in v. 12. 1,

d' ca vdha mitramahac cikitvd'n tvdm dutdh kavir asi prdcetdh.
Here the accent of the first verb is at any rate assured to it
by the fact that the corresponding Eik passage (x. 110. 1)
has the same reading. We might possibly conjecture, as
the cause of it, such an incomplete antithesis as was sup-
posed in the last case, the completion of the construction
being broken off by an anacolouthon. Or we may assign to
the particle ^r, ca, such an office as f^, hi, would fill, if used
in place of it (compare vi. 27. 2. viii. 1. 6.) ; " bring hither,
etc, ; [in that case, or if thou so dost] thou art our messen-
ger, etc."

Again, in vii. 35. Ic, d,

iddm rdshtrdm piprhi sd'ubhagdya vicva enam dnu madantu
devd'h,

the accenting of the verb in the first pdda seems to be the
effect of the assumption of an antithesis between the two
clauses, which is facilitated, perhaps, by the more distinct
antithetical construction of the preceding line of the couplet.
In viii. 7. 21, we find

uj jihidhve standyaty abhikrdndaty oshadMh,

while gfir cft-^id, abhi krandati, would seem to be the easier

and more natural reading. We cannot well assume here an
error of transcription, nor can we plausibly regard the two
verbal forms as locatives of the present participle. I do
not understand the reason of the accent as it stands.
In xL 9. 9, 11, 25, we have, three times repeated, the words

414

amitreshu samikshdyan,

which can hardly be translated otherwise than "may they
show themselves among our enemies ;" so that the accent
should be, according to general analogies, ^ffi'-dtM; s®m tksha-
yan. But there is something especial and unusual about this
phrase, inserted each time, as it is, where it seems not par-
ticularly in place ; and it may have some relation or signifi-
cance which I have not discovered. At present I am com-
pelled to pass by the accent as problematical.

There are three passages in which the word sn^, babhuva,
is accented, at the end of the line, in a manner which is not
accounted for by any general rule. They are as follows :

l HH^rif

«\ c.

svdsa r'shmdm bhutaJcr'idm babhu'va (vi. 133. 4) ;

mddhuman mddhyam virudhdm babhu'va (viii. 7. 12) ;

dddbdhacakshuh part vicvam babhti'va (xiii. 2. 44).
In neither of these cases is the clause a dependent one, or a
member of an antithesis, nor am I able to discover any spe-
cial ground for the accent of the verbs. It is to be noted,
however, that the verbal form here in question stands in the
Atharvan very often, indeed, in almost every case in which
it occurs at all, at the end of a pdda; and that in numerous
instances (seventeen in all) it receives an accent in that posi-
tion ; not without a distinct reason, it is true, in each case,
such as is wanting in the three passages now under consid-
eration ; yet it may be that the frequent occurrence of that
ending led to the transference of its accentuation to these
three passages : the tonic cadence was familiar to the ear,
and was accordingly intruded upon a few lines to which it
did not properly belong. This explanation, however, I do
not regard as very satisfactory, especially as there are also
in the text nineteen cases of the same word standing unac-

415

cented at the end of a pdda ; I only offer it as the most
plausible one which I am able to suggest.

It will be noticed that no other general principle of verbal
accentuation than that first enunciated has been regarded as
established, or even suggested, by the passages which we
have cited. Some, indeed,* have been inclined to assume
that the verb was occasionally suffered to retain its accent
when it was sought to give especial force to the expression,
or else when a peculiar emphasis, or distinctive stress of
voice, was by the sense required to be laid upon the verb
itself. But although it seems highly plausible that such
causes should sometimes produce such an effect, there is
almost no distinct evidence to be derived from the text of
the Atharvan that they do produce it. It might not be
quite impossible to force such a explanation upon some of
the cases which we have looked upon above as problemati-
cal, while yet it would be hard to find in them any reason
for accenting the verb which would not equally apply to a
great many passages in the text which are actually left to
be accented according to the general rules. And it is rea-
sonable to require that such a principle be established upon
the evidence of a sufficient number of unambiguous passages,
before we make use of it to explain doubtful and difficult
cases.

But there are a few passages in the Atharvan, for whose
explanation we are tempted to suppose the existence and
efficiency in the language of this principle of energetic or
emphatic accentuation. Thus we have, in the first place,
four verses, in which the asseverative particles ^, aha, TH^
it, and f^-, kila, appear to accent the verbs in connection
with which they are taken. They are the following :

mdme 'd aha krdtdv dso mama cittdm upd'yasi (i. e. upa-d'-
ayasi) (i. 34. 2) ;

ahdm vad&mi net tvdm sdbhd'ydm dha tvdm vdda (vii. 88. 4) ;
* So Benfey, Vollst. Sanskr. Or., § 129.

416

mdme 'd dsas tvdm kevalo nd' 'nyd'sdm kirtdydc cand (vii. 38. 4) ;

md'm it Mia tvdm vdndh cd'khdm mddhumatim iva (i. 34. 4).
With regard to jg^r, aAcr, it is to be remarked, that it nowhere
else in the Atharvan occurs in such connection as to show
whether it possesses a general power to accent the verb. But,
of six passages in which it is found in the first Ashtaka of
the Rik, there, is but one in which it exercises such a power.
As for the first line given, there is room for suspecting an
antithesis (certainly not less than in xix. 31. 6, cited above) ;
or the partial analogies of iii. 25. 5. vi. 42. 3 may have had
some influence upon its accentuation. In the second in-
stance, a very slight change of place of the last accent-sign
would rob the verb of its accent.* The particle T?^, it, is of
very frequent occurrence in the text, but nowhere else influ-
ences the accent of a verb, unless when in composition with
^ ca, and ^ na, as before explained. And for the third
passage also, the analogy of the parallel passage vii. 37. 1
may not have been without effect. The particle fi^rf, kila,
occurs in two other places in the Atharvan, viz. in iv. 7. 3.
xviii. 1. 15, as also in Rik i. 32. 4, without rendering the
verb orthotone : I am not able at present to refer to any
other passages illustrating its use.

In these four, instances, the accent of the verbs certainly
is not of the nature of what we call emphasis ; there ex-
ists no reason why a distinguishing stress of voice should
be laid upon them ; in each case, some other word than the
verb is the emphatic one. If the verbs are indeed accented
in them in virtue of the influence of the asseverative parti-
cles, it must be as the utterance of the whole clause takes
place with so much additional force, that the verb also
shares in it, to the extent of having its lost accent restored
to it. And yet it would seem as if this effect of increased
energy of enunciation would better express itself by laying
a stronger stress upon the already accented syllables, than

* And this change has actually been made in the published text.

417

by giving it to others which were not properly entitled
to it.

There are, however, two or three passages, in which signs
of a real emphasis are perhaps discoverable. Thus, in ii. 7. 4,

*!Trii(V*ii

drdtir no md' tdrin find1 nas tdrishur abhimdtayah,
the second verb may be accented because the difference of
its form from that of the first struck the sense, and seemed
to call for a special notice. Yet this is quite doubtful, since
we have seen hitherto that, in the case of two correlative
and contrasted sentences, the tendency of the language was
to accent the verb of the first, and not of the second.
We have, again, in iv. 18. 6, and repeated in v. 31. 11,

ydq cdkd'ra nd qaqd'ka Icdrtum,

"He who hath done, hath not been able to do;" i. e., "He
who hath attempted, hath not been able to accomplish."
Here we may plausibly suppose the accent laid upon the
second verb to be an emphatic one.
Once more, in xii. 3. 26, we read

flrtWll 3

guddhd'h sati's td' u qumbhanta evd.

In this passage, as in the last but one, the verb is perhaps
marked with its independent accent in order to indicate
more strongly its distinction from the preceding participle.
Whether the evidence of these few passages, themselves
in part doubtful, and capable of a different explanation,
will be considered of so much weight that we may found
upon it the assertion, that the Sanskrit tends to accent the
verb in a sentence which is meant to be expressed with pe-
culiar energy, or where the sense lays a peculiar force upon
it, is very questionable. The existence of such a tendency
must remain doubtful until new support shall be found for
it from the other accented texts. It is not unlikely that these
will furnish parallel passages which shall explain many of
those which have occasioned us difficulty, by showing them
to be referable to new principles, or to new modes of action

418

of the principles already laid down, which, by the aid of the
material furnished by the Atharvan alone, we have not dis-
covered.

We have thus passed in review all the cases occurring in
the first nineteen books of the Atharvan, in which the ac-
cent of the verb was determined by other than the most
general rules, and which accordingly either threw light upon
the theory of verbal accentuation, or required especial treat-
ment, as being of an exceptional and anomalous character.
I have not included with them the instances derivable from
the twentieth and concluding book, because the more proper
occasion for presenting these would seem to be a discussion
of the accentual rules as illustrated by the Rig- Veda ; since
the book in question forms really no part of the Atharvan,
and is only a collection of extracts from the Eik.* For the
sake of completeness, however, I append here a brief state-
ment of the passages in it which are of like character with
those already given for the other books.

Instances of a verb accented because standing at the head
of its own clause, the division of the sentence taking place
within the limits of a pdda, are xx. 3. 1 ; 8. la, b ; 11. 10;
16. lid; 27, 2; 35.2; 46.3; 54.1; 65. 1; 67.5; 91.12;
92. 8, 16 ; 95. 3 ; 117. 1 ; 137. 8.

In xx. 16. lie, we have a case of accentuation of the
verb regarded as directly construed with the following, in-
stead of with the preceding object.

In xx. 20. 6, the particle g-, ca, indicates the conditionality
of the clause, whose verb accordingly remains orthotone.
In 113. 1, we either have another similar case, or the word
3H7J, ubhayam, with which the verse begins, is a general in-
troduction to it, and not specially connected with the follow-
ing verb, which is then left accented in virtue of its initial
position: as, "Both these two things — let Indra hear our
voice .... and let him come hither," etc.

The particle eyfdri, kuvit, accents the verb in xx. 24. 2, 4,
the only instances of its occurrence.

* From this statement should be excepted, of course, the few peculiar pas-
sages found in connection with those extracts : yet they also were not to be
made use of in an investigation like the present ; their accentuation in the
manuscripts is too corrupt to be of any authority ; the editors have had to
accent them anew in accordance with rules and analogies elsewhere established.

419

In xx. 70. 6 is a case of an antithesis with, err— srr, vi-va,
which, as in xviii. 1. 16, cited above (p. 401), is incomplete,
the second verb being left to be supplied.

The passage xx. 55. 1 appears to be another instance of
an incompletely stated antithesis, only the former of the
two particles g-, ca, being expressed. It may be compared
with i. 17. 2c, d, and v. 12. 1 (cited on pages 412 and 413).

A distinct antithesis is exhibited in xx. 56. 3d ; " Whom,
on the one hand, wilt thou slay ? whom, on the other, set
in the midst of wealth ?" and the usual effect of such a con-
struction is seen in the accenting of the former verb.

In xx. 16. lid, the former of the two verbs is accented
by the action of the same principle. In xx. 8. 1 c ; 89. 5, we
have two cases closely akin with v. 18. 4 (see above, p. 407),
the correctness of the accentuation in which passage may be
looked upon as clearly established by their analogy.

In xx. 67. 7d, we have a case of the irregular accenting
of a verb after a vocative, in a like situation as in i. 20. 1
(cited above, p. 410).

In the passage xx. 5. 5,

e 'hi "m axya drdvd piba.

"Come hither now, of this [Soma], run, drink," the intro-
duction of ^oT, drava, in parenthesis, between fqsr, piba, and
its object, has so broken the continuity of the sentence that
the latter verb can no longer be made enclitic, but is suffered
to retain an independent accent.

It thus appears that in that portion of the Bik text (about
a thirteenth part of the whole) of which the concluding
book of the Atharvan is composed, there are no phenomena
of verbal accentuation inconsistent with the rules which have
been given above, nor any that require other principles for
their explanation. Whether, in the whole body of the Bik,
phenomena of a different character rnaj^ be found, must re-
main to be decided by examination. Considering the greater
amount of material which the older Veda presents, as well
as the superior accuracy of its text as fixed by tradition, its
speedy examination with a view to this subject is greatly to
be desired, in order to the full elucidation of the latter.

VOL. v. 54

MISCELLANIES

I. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
1. From a Letter from Rev. A. H. Wright, M. D., of Ortimiak.

Orooraiah, Persia, Aug. 21st, 1865.

In a recent letter to Mr. Perkins, you intimated that some intelli-
gence relative to the state of education in Persia would be interest-
ing to you. A friend residing in Tabreez has furnished me with
information on the subject, relative to that place, which may be
taken as a standard for most of the large towns in the country.

The population of Tabreez is about one hundred thousand, of
whom my friend supposes that two-thirds are able to read and
write the Persian language. He gives the number of schools of all
kinds in the place as one hundred, that is, one school to every
thousand of the population. Of this number ten are seminaries of
a high order, containing from eighty to a hundred pupils each.
These are public institutions, free to all who wish to attend. The
instruction is given by learned men as a charitable act, or by those
who have received an allowance from some wealthy persons for this
object.

There are fifty schools attached to the Mosques, the pupils of each
numbering from thirty to fifty. The teachers in these schools are
supported by an assessment of from ten to twenty-five cents a month
on each scholar, the amount varying according to the studies.

The remaining forty schools are of a private character, consisting
each of from ten to fifteen pupils. They are connected with private
families of rank and wealth, who employ a teacher for their own
children. Often a few children of their relatives, dependents,, or
neighbors are allowed to attend the school.

The course of study throughout all the schools of the country is
essentially the same. In all the primary schools it is as follows, viz.
1. The reading of the Koran in Arabic, without any attempt to un-
derstand its meaning. 2. The Gulistan of Saadi in Persian in the
same manner ; subsequently it is read again, and translated into
Turkish. 3. The writings of Hafiz. 4. Certain works in Persian
on the mode of performing the prescribed prayers, and of purifying
the body. o. Certain historical works in Persian celebrated for ele-
gance of style. 6. The elements of Grammar in Arabic. 7. Syntax,
Etymology, and Prosody, also in Arabic.

In the schools of a higher grade, the studies are Logic, Law,
civil and religious, Interpretation, Tradition, Medicine, Mathematics,
Astronomy and Geometry.

424

The knowledge of Chemistry is confined to those who pretend to
transmute the baser metals into gold. It is universally believed in
the country that this is practicable, and also that there are some per-
sons who possess the secret. They are said to be wandering Der-
vishes, going about in the garb of extreme poverty, for fear of the
civil authorities, who might force them to reveal their secret, if they
•were known to possess it. There are many in all parts of the coun-
try, who spend their lives and waste their means, in the vain pursuit
of a universal solvent.

Astronomy as a science is cultivated by a few persons. The old
Ptolemaic theory, making the earth the centre, around which the
heavenly bodies revolve, is still universally maintained. Eclipses
are calculated, and almanacs constructed. Until recently the alma-
nacs were all manuscripts, and but a few copies were prepared,
which were purchased only by the rich and noble. For some years
they have been printed at Tabreez, and scattered over the country
at a very cheap rate. Astrology forms a leading department in the
almanac. Events for the year are foretold, peace or war, plenty or
famine, <fec. Favorable hours are also indicated for starting on a
journey, laying the ' foundations of a house, for the tailor to cut out
a garment, &c.

The Persians are excessively fond of poetry, and venerate those
who have a reputation for poetic talent. The Shah has his favorite
poet, who is called the Shems-i-Shudr, the Sun of Poets. His
attempts are mostly confined to the composition of short pieces,
which are recited in public on festival occasions, and consist of
praises of God, praises of Mohammed, and fulsome flattery of the
Shah. At the present time there are no poets of great distinction
in the country ; Saadi, Hafiz, and Firdusi remain unrivalled.

You have heard of the Government College at Tehran called the
Dar-el-fnoon, the Door of the Sciences. It is not intended for the
benefit of the community at large. It is wholly a government insti-
tution, the object of which is to raise up government servants. The
pupils, now numbering a hundred, all receive a stipend from the
public treasury, and as soon as they are qualified they are taken
into active service. The yearly expenses of the College are about
forty thousand dollars. Seven professors are employed in it, four of
whom are Austrian subjects, one a Frenchman, one a Neapolitan,
and one a Persian. Their departments are as follows. 1. Infantry
tactics. 2. Cavalry tactics. 3. Artillery tactics. (The three pro-
fessors in charge of these departments also drill the Persian troops,
many of whom are always assembled at the Capital.) 4. Engineer-
ing, including Mathematics, Geometry, etc. 5. The Theory and
Practice of Medicine and Surgery. 6. Materia Medica. (The
teacher in this department has charge of the government apothecary

425

establishment.) 7. The French language. This language is studied
by the Shah himself, who receives lessons from his private physician,
\vho is a Frenchman. Many young officers of the government have
acquired a respectable knowledge of that tongue. One of them
has nearly completed the translation of Telemaque into Persian.

2. From a Letter of Rev. W. M. Thomson to Dr. DeForest.

Sidon. Nov. 30, 1855.

Sidon is now all in a state of excitement about Phenician antiq-
uities, being dug up at Magharet Tubloon. That whole neighbor-
hood is being cut up with trenches, in search of these antiquities.
The Alellas [<] and French consul are the chief diggers. They are
finding beautiful marble sarcophagi, with exquisite, figures carved
on the lids, like that with the inscription on it, but none of those
recently found have any writing on them. They are, however, very
curious, and what is still more curious is the immense depth of these
rooms. I examined a room yesterday afternoon from which two of
these beautiful sarcophagi have been taken. A square shaft was
sunk through the rock at least twenty feet deep ; from it, low doors
lead into rooms, where the coffins were placed in niches below the
floor, which was of strong hojarleh [cement]. No one would sus-
pect that anything lay buried beneath this hajarieh, and the effort to
conceal the tombs was successful up to this day : these sarcophagi
had never been disturbed. I was present at the opening of one.
Two sanburiehs [baskets] of rotten bones were gathered out of it.
There were small bits of gold among them, but nothing of value.
There seems to be no end to these rooms ; chambers lie over cham-
bers, and no one yet knows to what depth they may be found.
You would be astonished to see the excitement which these things
create in our usually quiet community.

3. from a Letter from Prof. C. Lassen, of Bonn.

Bonn, 12th Jan., 1856.

You will be glad to learn that the printing of the first Part of
the third volume of my Indische Alterthumskunde, which has been
so long deferred, is about to begin, so that 1 hope that it will come
forth in the course of this summer.

426

4. From a, Letter from Rev. D. T. Stoddard, of Or&miah.

Seir, Oroomiah, July 8th, 1856.

I should be exceedingly thankful for a review of my Grammar
[of the Modern Syriac Language; see above, pp. 1-180] by a com-
petent person, which should point out its defects, which I am myself
sensible are not few. They are perhaps, however, not more numer-
ous than might be expected from one who had had no previous ex-
perience in this kind of composition, and whose time and thoughts
are mainly engrossed with other pursuits. I regret much that the
book was not divided into paragraphs and sections, so as to admit
of frequent and easy reference from one part to another. An ar-
rangement of this kind would have rendered many passages plain,
•which are now more or less obscure, and would have greatly facili-
tated the student's progress.

The educated Jew, who was with us for a time, has now left the
Seminary, and I rarely come in contact with him, so that I have
not finished preparing the sketch of the modern Jews' language of
Persia which I undertook some time ago. It will be my aim to
forward it to you in the course of the next winter. If possible, I shall
get the Jew above mentioned to write out all the forms in the lie-
brew character, and shall then myself, while listening to his pronun-
ciation of each -word, write it down in the Syriac character. If
either the Hebrew or the Syriac character should be used alone, I
fear that, with many readers, this would go far toward determining
the unsettled and really difficult question, whether the language is
to be referred to the Chaldee or to the ancient Syriac. It is very
likely, however, that a thorough investigation will show that it is
not strictly a descendant of either of those languages, but rather
•derived from the Aramaean, from which they themselves sprang.

5. From a Letter from W. W. Turner, Esq.

Washington, D. C., Aug. 28, 1856.

The Smithsonian Institution has at length received the volume
and the fac-similes [of the Phenician inscription of Sidon] presented
to it by the Due de Luynes, in compliance with our joint request.
The fac-similes are of stout white paper, produced, I suppose, by
dampening the paper, laying it on the marble, and rubbing it with
a hard point into all the depressions, so that the outline and depth

427

of every letter, and of every flaw in the stone, are represented with
the greatest exactness. These fac-similes comprise both the complete
inscription on the top of the sarcophagus, and the imperfect one
which runs round its head. The former measures two feet nine
inches from top to bottom, and the sixth line is two feet nine and a
half inches in length. The partial inscription is four feet seven
inches long : the letters are rather smaller, slenderer, and neater
than those of the full inscription.

These fac-similes, exhibiting as they do the very " form and pres-
sure" of the letters traced and engraved by Phenician hands, are in-
tensely interesting.

II. IDEAS RESPECTING AN ALPHABET SUITED TO THE LANGUAGES OF
SOUTHERN AFRICA. By Prof. C. A. HOLMBOE, of Christiania,
Norway.

[This essay, with the letter accompanying it, was not received in
New Haven until Dec. 1855, having been detained upon the way;
which is the cause of its appearing so long after being composed.]

Christiania, Feb. 15th, 1854.

Six months ago, I received from a committee of American mis-
sionaries in the neighborhood of Port Natal, in Southern Africa, an
invitation to act as member of a committee composed of Professors
Salisbury and Gibbs of Yale College, of Professor Pott at Halle,
and of one English and one French gentleman, who were not yet
designated, to invent and establish an alphabet suitable to all the
languages of Southern Africa. The distance of the members from
one another makes oral discussion impracticable : the only possible
method of contributing anything to the important object will be,
then, to communicate mutually our ideas in writing. Accordingly
I take the liberty of sending you annexed my ideas respecting a
South- African alphabet, begging you to receive them favorably, and
to make such use of them as shall seem good to you.

It appears that those who have written on this subject, are agreed
with respect to the following points :

1st. That the alphabet of the civilized nations of Europe ought
to be employed for all the sounds which occur in the South-African

428

2nd. That certain slight additions to the ordinary letters should
be employed to express the sounds which approach those of these
letters, but are not identical with them.

3rd. That simple signs are to be made use of to express simple
sounds, and that accordingly the complex signs which have been
wont to be used for this purpose should be avoided.
The points which still remain undecided are:
1st. The form of the additions to be made to the letters which
express sounds resembling those of the African languages.

2nd. The form and number of the letters which shall be used to
express African sounds unknown to the ordinary alphabet.

In order to make known my opinion with regard to these two
point*, I will pass in review the attempts of the writers who are
known to me, omitting the letters about which opinions are already
agreed.

[Here follows, in the original, a table giving the different charac-
ters proposed by Rev. Messrs. Schreuder, Krapf, and Grout, and by
Prof. Gibbs, to represent certain sounds in the African languages,
and likewise those which the author himself would prefer to see
employed. The type necessary for expressing the latter not having
been provided, it is not possible to give the table here. The signs
approved by the author are for the most part those proposed by
Kev. Mr. Grout (see this Journal, vol. iii. p. 465, etc.), the following
only being exceptions : for the aspirated lingual mutes he would use
the Anglo-Saxon characters recommended by Prof. Gibbs (see as
above, p. 471 ) ; for the click c he proposes a character which nearly
resembles z of the common German current .hand ; for the click q,
the same sign with a prefixed straight mark, constituting a part of
it; for the click x the same sign, as last modified, with the addition
of a horizontal mark across the tail of the letter; for rj, .(as above,
p. 465, No. 16) he proposes n; for the sound of ch in church, c;
for j (as above, No. 17), g with a horizontal mark across the tail of
the letter ; for 'k or k (No. 20), k with a line drawn at right angles
across its lower slanting limb; for k (No. 19), the same letter with
a horizontal line across its upper portion ; for 1. (No. 22), 1 with a
wave-line (") across it; fur 1 (No. 23), 1 with two such lines across
it; for r (No. 33), r with a horizontal line drawn through it; for s,
etc. (as above, p. 466, No. 35), a long s ( i ) with a wave-line across it.]
It is to be hoped that the South-Africans will some day rise high
enough in the scale of civilization to be able to write their languages :
and therefore, in constructing an alphabet for them, we must not
lose sight of the fact that it is intended as well for writing as for
printing : the letters ought, then, to have such forms that they may
flow easily from the pen, and connect without difficulty with one
another. But this is a quality which is wanting in the signs for the

429

clicks proposed by Rev. Mr. Schreuder [see as above, p. 436], and
by Prof. Gibbs [do., p. 472], and in the Arabic letters suggested by
the latter [do., p. 470]. .

Against the method of indicating the differences of the letters by
means of marks or dots detached from them, and placed above or
below them, I have the objection to make, that this easily gives rise
to difficulties. It is known that in our ordinary writing the dot
over the letter i is often omitted ; this is, it is true, but a very slight
inconvenience, because i is in our alphabet the only letter provided
with a dot. But if we take notice of the Arabic mode of writing,
in which nurnerous diacritical points are employed, we see that the
omission or the placing wrongly of these points often causes great
embarrassment. We see that conscientious writers, in order to pre-
vent misunderstandings, after a proper name, ordinarily describe at
great length the mode in which it is to be written. We should ex-
pose the Africans to like difficulties, if we should encumber their
alphabet with too many points and marks. I regard as preferable
lined letters (des httres barrees), even crossed by two lines, if neces-
sary. Such letters are already in use in many alphabets, as the Let-
tish, the Lapp, and the Norwegian. [The instances cited are neces-
sarily omitted.)

As to the clicks, Messrs. Grout and Gibbs propose four varieties
of form for each of them. I do not doubt the existence of that
number of perceptible varieties of sound, but I doubt the necessity
of making use of so many signs in order to express them all. It is
the case in every language that a letter exhibits certain differences
of pronunciation, caused by its contact with other letters, but it
may nevertheless always be written with the same sign, without
leading to confusion. If the varieties of the clicks have this origin,
it is superfluous to multiply signs for them. If, on the other hand,
there are in these languages words, or forms of words, which would
be confounded, if the signs of the clicks were not varied, I acknowl-
edge that it would be necessary to vary them.

430

III. THE loNIANS BEFORE THE IONIAN MIGRATION.
(Read before the Society, Oct. 9, 1856.)

Die lonier vor der lonischen Wanderung, von Ernst Curtius. Ber-
lin, 1855. 8vo. pp. 56.

THE name of Ernst Curtius is well known to American scholars
from his excellent volumes on the geography of Peloponnesus, as
well as several smaller works. His essay, published last year under
the title above given, presents novel and interesting views in regard
to the earliest times of Greece. I propose in this article to give a
brief statement of those views, with some criticism of the arguments
by which they are supported. It will appear as I proceed that the
subject, though belonging to Greek history, is one which has its
claims upon the attention of an Oriental Society.

At the outset of authentic Greek history, we find the western
coast of Asia Minor, with the neighboring islands, occupied by
Greeks, undoubted members of the Hellenic body. Of these the
largest portion, extending on the mainland from the mouth of the
Hermus to that of the Maeander, and holding the important islands
of Chios and Samos, called themselves lonians — a name which be-
longed to them in common with the inhabitants of Attica and Eu-
boea on the west of the Aegean, as well as the island group of the
Cyclades in the centre of that sea. The Asiatic lonians, after pass-
ing through a long career of independence and prosperity, were in-
corporated about 550 B. C. into the kingdom of the Lydian Croe-
sus, along with which they came only a few years later into the more
comprehensive and permanent empire of the Persian Cyrus. This
was the close of their independent existence. For its commencement
we must go back to the mythic period — at least to a period lying on
the debatable ground between history and mythus. In the tradi-
tions of the Greeks as to their own early times, we find the origin
of the Asiatic lonians traced up to an ancient colonization from the
west, by emigrants who came from European Greece. This emi-
gration is represented as one consequence, among many, of the great
event, which stands on the threshhold of Greek history, itself ob-
scurely seen, but sufficiently recognized as the cause or occasion of
almost all we see in early Greece — the invasion and conquest of Pel-
oponnesus by the Dorians. The story is briefly this : I condense
from Grote. " A multitude of refugees from various parts of Greece,
fleeing before the Dorian invaders, sought shelter in Attica. Alarmed
by the growing population of that territory, the Dorians of Pelo-
ponnesus marched against it with a powerful army ; but finding that
victory had been assured to the Athenians by the generous self-

481

devotion of their Mug Codrus, they gave up the enterprise and
returned home. The Athenians on the death of Codrus abolished
the kingship ; but his descendants for several generations held the
supreme power as archons for life. His two sons, Medon and Neileus,
having quarreled about the succession, the Delphian oracle decided
in favor of the former ; whereupon the latter, affronted at the pre-
ference, resolved to seek a new home. There were at this moment
many dispossessed sections of Greeks, and an adventitious popula-
tion accumulated in Athens, who were anxious for settlements beyond
sea. The expeditions which now set forth to cross the Aegean, chiefly
under the conduct of members of the Codrid family, composed
collectively the memorable Ionic Emigration, of which the lonians,
recently expelled from Peloponnesus, formed only a part; for we
hear of many quite distinct races, some renowned in legend, who
withdrew from Greece amidst this assemblage of colonists. The
Kadmeians, the Minyae of Orchomenus, the Abantes of Euboea,
the Dryopes ; the Molossi, the Phokians, the Boeotians, the Arcadian
Pelasgians, and even the Dorians of Epidaurus — are represented as
furnishing each a proportion of the crews of those emigrant vessels.
At the same time other mythic families beside the Codrids, the lineage
of Neleus and Nestor, took part in the expedition. Herodotus men-
tions Lykian chiefs, descendants of Glaukus, and Pausanias tells us
of Philotas a descendant of Peneleos, who went at the head of a body
of Thebans. Prokles, the chief who conducted the Ionic emigrants
from Epidaurus to Samos, was said to be of the lineage of Ion son
of Xuthus. The results were not unworthy of this great gathering
of chiefs and races. The Cyclades were colonized, as also the large
islands of Samos and Chios near the Asiatic shore, while ten differ-
ent cities on the coast of Asia Minor, from Miletus on the south to
Phokaea on the north, were founded, and all adopted the Ionic name.
Athens was the metropolis or mother city of all of them : Androk-
lus and Neileus, the Oekists of Ephesus and Miletus, and probably
other Oekists also, started from the Prytaneium at Athens with
those solemnities religious and political, which usually marked the
departure of a swarm of Grecian colonists." Such is the traditional
account. The main fact contained in it, may be regarded as certain
— that after the Dorian conquest of southern Greece and in conse-
quence of that event, large bodies of Greeks, the most important
part of them lonians, set forth, chiefly from the coast of Attica, to
cross the Aegean sea. The time of this migration may be set down
by a loose approximation at 1000 years before our Era.

Now the principal thesis of Curtius in his Essay, is this ; that in
the migration just described, the lonians of Greece were going home,
to their own country and kindred. It was the returning emigration
to a land, from which, ages before, their fathers had passed over into

432
i

Greece — and not only that, but a land which had never ceased to be
occupied by the same race, by a people of Ionian name and lineage.
They found on arriving in Asia, not only Dardanians, Carians, Ly-
cians and other tribes, which Curtius regards as differing not very
widely from lonians in language and culture : but they found there
lonians, identified with themselves by virtue of the common name,
origin and traditions. They found in fact the lonians — the principal
branch as well as the elder of their race — who in these Asiatic seats
had risen to a height of achievement and reputation, not yet equal-
led by any Greeks of Europe. Let us, however, trace the theory
more in detail, going back to its remote starting point in the past,
beyond the reach of history, beyond the reach even of mythus, where
only ethnographic science can furnish any glimmering of light.

The primitive Arian colonization, flowing westward from Arme-
nia into Asia Minor, filled the elevated plateaux of that peninsula
with Phrygian races. Here the Greeks, long identified with the
Phrygian stock, first begin to be distinguished as Greeks, with a
stamp and nationality of their own. Here they develope what must
be considered as the common type of Hellenism in language and
character. But almost from the beginning they divide themselves
into two great sections. The one is that afterwards known in history
as the Ionian. The other includes the remaining fractions of the
Greek nation : we might call it Hellenic in a narrower sense, as being
first to assume the Hellenic name : it is sometimes called Aeolo-
Dorian from the designations of its leading members in the historic
period. After a time these sections part company. The latter or Hel-
lenic section break up from Asia, cross the Hellespont and Propontis,
and find new seats in the mountains of Thrace and Macedonia.
Here they remain in isolated Alpine valleys, forming their separate
local constitutions, until, dislodged by new movements of popula-
tion, and pressed southward, they make their appearance in different
masses, as Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans, in Northern Greece. Here
again in the course of time new causes arise, which carry portions
at least of these tribes still further in the same direction, into Cen-
tral and Southern Greece. Hence the occupation of Peloponnesus
by the Achaeans, whom the Homeric poems represent to us as seated
in that territory and exercising full ascendancy. And hence too the
later and far more important conquest of the same territory by the
Dorians and their auxilaries.

The lonians meanwhile remain in Asia Minor, but no longer in
the highlands of the interior. Descending gradually along the great
river valleys, they at length reach the Aegean sea, and then spread-
ing themselves northward and southward, occupy the whole western
coast — possessing thus a territory distinguished alike for the rich-
ness of its soil, and the genial beauty of its climate. They are closely

433

connected here by proximity and by intercourse with other tribes,
such as the Dardanians, Lycians, Carians, Leleges, from whom in*
fact they are not separated by any broad lines of ethnical distinction.
Under these circumstances they enter upon a career of activity and
culture, which appears to have received its impulse from the Phoe-
nicians and to have been shared in, more or less, by the other tribes just
mentioned. Visited at first by the Phoenicians for the purposes of trade,
they soon learned from them the art of navigation, and set up business
on their own account, as the rivals of their late masters. Associated
with the Phoenicians in many parts of the Aegean, and supplanting
them in others, they have become inextricably confused with them
in the traditions of the Greeks. The Ionian myth which represents
Byblus, one of the oldest Phoenician cities, as the daughter of Mile-
tus, shows perhaps that the lonians gained a foothold even on the
coast of Syria ; at any rate it is a proof of close connection between
these two maritime peoples. There is clearer evidence to show that
the lonians visited the coast of Egypt, and even established settle-
ments, more or less permanent, in the marshy Delta of the Nile.
This was regarded by the Egyptians themselves almost as foreign
territory ; since we find that Psammetichus — the same prince, who,
perhaps a thousand years later, opened the whole country to the
Greeks — when banished from Egypt, took refuge in the Delta. And
the men of brass, who were announced to Psammetichus, while there,
as having just made their appearance, and who proved to be a party
of Ionian rovers recently landed, were but a specimen of their own
countrymen, who, a thousand years earlier, made repeated descents
upon the same coast for the mingled purposes of traffic and plunder.
But the attention of the lonians was naturally directed more to the
west. Crossing the Aegean Sea, they occupy first the Cyclades, and
then Euboea and Attica. They establish their settlements on the
Pagasaean Gulf, and on both sides of the Euripus. Traces of them
are found along the whole eastern coast of Peloponnesus, in Corinth,
Epidaurus, Troezen, Argos, and even in the island of Cythera. Pass-
ing over the Isthmus, they appear in the Corinthian Gulf, where we
find them in southern Phocis, and much more in northern Pelopon-
nesus, in the district afterward called Achaia. From thence they
spread southward over Elis and Messene in western Peloponnesus :
and having thus reached the Ionian Sea, they occupy the Ithacan
islands, and extend themselves northward to the island of Corcyra,
and the coasts of Epirus and Illyria. More than this : in the mythic
wanderings of Aeneas, Curtius would recognize a traditionary rep-
resentation of Ionian settlement, which must then have stretched
along the western coast of Italy from Eryx to the mouth of the
Tiber. Even in Sardinia, he considers the name of a people called
the lolaeans, and of their founder lolaos, as giving evidence of early
Ionian colonization.

484

Throughout the course of these migrations the lonians carry with
them the culture of the vine and the worship of the wine-god Diony-
sus. Every where we find them settling along the coasts, and show-
ing an especial preference for the rich, though marshy, alluvium at
the mouth of rivers. Occasionally, however, they follow up a river-
valley quite into the interior of a district, as in Boeotia, where the
Asopus leads them to the inland city of Thebes. Everywhere wan-
dering in ships, they wander without women ; and hence their
colonization appears as the establishment of a few foreign settlers
among a native population, whom they do not attempt to dispossess,
but exercise over them the natural ascendancy of superior ability and
civilization. Thus in Attica there is no change of population : the
primitive people, whom Greek tradition names Pelasgi, remain in
their old seats, unchanged except as they are civilized, Ionized by the
foreigners from Asia. The Egyptian Cecrops, the mythic author of
civilization in Attica, is no proper Egyptian, but an Ionian, who had
become domiciled in Egypt. A similar view is taken of Danaus the
Egyptian founder of Argos. These traditions of early connections
between Egypt and Greece are, in the view of Curtius, too deeply
rooted and too widely ramified, to have sprung up, as K. O. Miiller
assumed, after the comparatively recent period when the Egyptians
under Psamrnetichus came into closer relations with the Greeks.
Yet on the other hand, it seems equally evident, that no influence
strictly and properly Egyptian, could have had a leading part in
moulding the civilization, substantially homogeneous and independ-
ent, of early Greece. The difficulty finds its solution in the view,
that these Egyptian settlers, who figure in tradition, were lonians,
who had found a residence in Egypt and came from thence to Greece.
The Phoenician Cadmus and his colonization of Thebes are treated
in the same way. Curtius does not deny indeed, that there were in
Greece, to a greater or less extent, ancient settlements of native
Phoenicians ; but he maintains confidently that no such alien Sem-
itic settlers could have gained historic importance as founders of
royal or sacerdotal families. It is of course still easier to connect
the Phrygian Pelops, and his immigration into the peninsula which
took his name, with the colonial extension of the Ionian race. The
Argonautic expedition is a story of Ionian adventure. Its leader,
who comes into Thessaly an unknown wanderer, bears a name, Ja-
son '/(iawr, which stamps him as Ionian : and its Thessalian start-
ing-point, lolcos or laolcos, is with great probability explained as
meaning 'the naval station of the lonians.'

Here on the coast of Thessaly the lonians are again brought into
contact with their brethren of Aeolo-Dorian descent. After a local
separation of generations and centuries, these long-sundered sections
of the Grecian people are brought once more into local connection.

435

The most conspicuous result is the formation of the celebrated Aru-
phictyonic League, the oldest and largest and most influential of the
Grecian Amphictyonies. 'It is a religious association of Thessalian
tribes (neighbors to one another, ^/ucpixTloveg) for the common wor-
ship of the god Apollo. The lonians, after being for a long time
worshippers preeminently of the god Poseidon, of whom the western
Greeks at that time knew as little as of the element he ruled, had
in their eastern home received the Apollo-worship — a new religion,
as Curtins calls it, which every where exercised a transforming and
inspiring influence on its converts. Zealously devoted to its propa-
gation, they introduced it among their brethren of Thessaly. Thus
in the Amphictyonic deity we find a proof of Ionian influence ;
which appears further in the frequently-recurring Ionian number
twelve, as that of the confederate tribes. The Amphictyonic League,
though primarily a religious organization, expressed political aspira-
tions, and worked toward political results. It produced a feeling
of closer union and of common brotherhood among its members,
which led to the adoption of the Hellenic name as a common desig-
nation for the united Amphictyonic people. Hellen in the myths is
either father or brother of Amphictyon. Hence the tribes of Mace-
donia and Epirus, however closely resembling the Hellenes, never re-
ceived the Hellenic name, which belongs only to the Amphictyonic
tribes, and the districts which come under their control or influence.

Although Ionian influence, as we have seen, was predominant in
the origin of the Delphic Amphictyony, that first reunion and or-
ganization of the Greek races, yet the relative weight of parties did
not always remain the same. A reaction at length commenced — a
reaction of the older tribes in the interior against the newer occu-
pants of the sea board — of the western Greeks against their emigrant
brethren from the east. The ruder tribes of Thessaly, receiving the
imported civilization of the lonians, come at length to feel themselves
the equals of their late instructors, and can no longer brook the as-
cendancy to which they at first submitted. Hence a decided revo-
lution in the political state of Greece, proceeding from Thessaly, and
having for its ultimate result the almost complete expulsion of the
lonians from European Greece. But this revolution is the work of
ages, and has its different epochs, according to the different races,
who successively appear to carry it forward.

First, the Aeolians, who are represented in the traditions as arising
from a mixture of the inland tribes with the maritime population of
the sea board. Though in fact supplanting the lonians, they do not
appear as their opponents or even as their rivals. The Aeolids are
themselves bearers of Ionian cultivation and the worship of Posei-
don ; their royal seats, as lolcos and Corinth, are stations of Ionian

VOL. v. 56

436

colonization ; their mythic heroes, as Jason and Sisyphus, are repre-
sentatives of Asiatic culture.

Second, the Achaeans are likewise in nrany ways closely connected
with the lonians, as the my thus intimates, when it makes both Ion
and Achaeus sons of Apollo. Yet the military exaltation of the
Achaeans is the first great blow to Ionian preponderance in Greece.
While the Achaeans of Phthiotis press on toward the sea coast of
Thessaly, the other branch of that people conquer the Peloponne-
sus, form new states there hostile to the lonians, whom they expel
from Troezen and other parts of Argolis, and with fleets of their
own begin those struggles with the tribes of Asia Minor, which are
commemorated in the legends of the Trojan war — a war in which
the Ionian peoples, as the Athenians, take scarcely any part, while
heroes akin to the lonians, as Palamedes and Odysseus, enter into it
with reluctance.

Third, the Dorians, a people much more alien to the Tonians and
much 7nore independent of their influence ; a people who adhere
with tenacity to their original peculiarities of life and character ; in
them was first seen the full native vigor of the mountain tribes.
Breaking up from their seats in Mt. Oeta, they cross the Corinthian
Gulf, by a gradual conquest overthrow the Achaean power, and
make themselves masters of nearly all Peloponnesus. As they ad-
vance, the lonians everywhere lose ground ; on all sides they are driven
back to their ships : and now begins a great retreat of the lonians
from their settlements in the west; a great return to their mother
country on the east of the Aegean Sea. Only in Attica do they
at last succeed in making an eti'ectual stand : thus maintaining a
foothold in European Greece, and preventing Hellenic history from
being again divided, as it had been, ages before, between two dis-
tinct races upon opposite sides of the Aegean. Even in Asia Minor
they are not by themselves. Achaean and Dorian colonies repro-
duce there the collisions of western Greece, keeping up a restless
activity of mind, by which Ionian art is stimulated to a rapid devel-
opment, until it puts forth its fairest blossom in the Homeric Epos.
Still in the Dorian and Aeolian districts of Asia Minor, the basis of
population remained essentially Ionian : and in the Ionian revolt, as
it is called, the whole people of the western coast, from Lycia to the
Propontis, rose as one people against the barbarian conqueror.

Such is the theory of this ingenious and strikingly written essay.
Before taking up any points in the argument on which it rests, we
must observe that this idea of lonians in Asia previous to the Ionian
Migration, is wholly foreign to the mythic or semi-historical tradi-
tions of the Greeks themselves. It may be shown, perhaps, that in
those traditions there are statements which imply the existence of a
primitive Ionian people in that region ; statements which cannot be

437

explained on any other supposition. But it is confessedly true, that
the traditions conveyed no such idea to the ancient Greeks who had
them ; certainly not, after they had assumed the forms in which
they have come down to us.

In looking at the evidence on which our author relies, to sustain
a proposition of which no memory is found in the most ancient lite-
rature and tradition of Greece, it is natural to inquire first, whether
any testimony can be gleaned from early Oriental sources. Here
Curtius finds a confirmation of his views in the name given to the
Greeks by all the ancient nations of the East. It is well known
that the common form "/WITS is made by a contraction of the ear-
lier 'I'jcoffs ; and there is great reason to believe that this latter form
had originally a medial Digamma and was pronounced 'I&Foveg,
sing. ' Ii'tFwv. Now the Greeks are called by the Indians Javanas,
by the Hebrews Javan, by the Persians Juna or Jauna, in Aramaic
Jaunojo, in Arabic Jaunani, in Armenian Juin, and in Coptic Uinin.
It can hardly be doubted, that these are all forms of one and the
same name; and that this is no other than '/uFwv or 'luFoveg, the
special name of the Ionian Greeks. We may not unreasonably
suppose, that it was the Phoenicians who first applied this name as
a common designation for the whole Greek people, and that the
widely-extended commerce of the Phoenicians was the means of its
diffusion throughout Asia. It is further probable, that the Phoeni-
cians had the name in this use of it before the time of the Ionian
Migration. We find it in the tenth chapter of the book of Genesis,
in the list of Noachids, where it undoubtedly refers, not to a part of
the Greeks, but to the whole people. This document, if of Mosaic
origin, is at least thirteen centuries older than the Christian Era :
while even among those who deny its Mosaic origin, it is allowed
by all the sounder critics to be older than the division of the Hebrew
Monarchy. But this occurred about 1000 B. C., perhaps at the
same time with the Ionian Migration, probably not later than that
event. What shall we conclude, then, from this early use of the
Ionian name as a designation for the whole Hellenic people ? Cur-
tius replies — the fact is inexplicable unless we assume, that of all
the Grecian tribes the Ionian was the first which became known to
the Orientals; it must have existed as their neighbor and carried on
intercourse with them by land and water, not simply as early or a
little earlier than Aeolians and Dorians, but long before all other
Greeks. It appears to me that this language overstates the case.
On the coast of Syria at the present day all Europeans are Franks.
Yet other nations of Europe beside the French were represented in
the first crusade, and still more in the second, which, followed only a
half century later. On the other hand, the Europeans have given
the common name of Tartars to the nomadic tribes east of the Cas-

438

pian Sea. Yet it is certain, that even the first invading hordes,
which entered Europe under the successors of Genghiz Khan, were
not composed wholly nor principally of Tartars properly so called.
Because the French give the name of Allemands to all the Germans,
it surely does not follow that their ancestors for a long time were
acquainted with no Germans except those included in the Aleman-
nic confederacy. As to the case in hand, we can only say (assum-
ing that the Phoenicians were the first who used Ionian for Greek),
that either the lonians were the first Greeks known to the Phoeni-
cians, or they were somehow, from greater proximity, or closer inter-
course, or some one of many other possible reasons, more promi-
nently present to the view of the Phoenicians, when this use of the
name originated.

A second testimony is supposed to be furnished by early Egyptian
records. On the celebrated Rosetta stone and on other monuments
of the Macedonian and Roman periods, the idea " Greek" is rep-
resented by a hieroglyphic group, consisting first, of three papy-
rus plants standing side by side, and secondly, of three baskets
placed one above another. These elements, it is said, give the mean-
ing " Lords of the North." The. pronunciation of the group, as de-
termined by a comparison of the demotic characters in the Rosetta
inscription, is said to be unquestionably Uinen, which we have just
seen to be the Coptic name for the Greeks. Now the same hiero-
glyphic group is found upon a series of monuments belonging to
the early Pharaohs, and always in reference to a people described as
subject to the kings of Egypt. Of these kings some — as Ameno-
phis II, Sethos I or Sesonchis I — belong to the great heroic dynas-
ties of Thebes, the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, in the fif-
teenth and fourteenth centuries : others to the twenty-second dynasty
and the tenth century, as Sesonchis, the Shishak of the Old Testa-
ment, the conqueror of Jerusalem. It would seem, therefore, that
several of the early Egyptian sovereigns claimed to be masters of
the Uinen, lonians or Greeks. Curtius does not suppose, what in-
deed would be in the highest degree improbable, that these records
refer to expeditions by sea or land sent out from Egypt to the west-
ern border of Asia Minor, and there subduing or pretending to sub-
due the Ionian population of the country. He considers them as
referring to lonians of Egypt, settled in the Delta of the Nile, who
may at various times have been attacked and perhaps reduced to
submission, more or less complete, by native sovereigns of the coun-
try. It appears from the researches of Lepsius, that this name be-
longs to a group containing nine names of nations, which recur in
the same fixed order, the supposed Uinen standing first among them,
and Egypt itself, upper and lower, being included in the series.
That all the others beside Egypt belong to foreign nations is inferred

439

from the fact, that in a Theban tomb the bearers of the two Egyp-
tian shields are plainly distinguished from the other seven by their
red complexion and peculiar hair-dress. These are- the statements.
If they really prove that Ionian settlements were made in Egypt as
early as fourteen or fifteen centuries before Christ, they doubtless
serve to confirm the theory of Curtius. It does not appear, indeed,
that the monuments give any direct indication as to what part of
the world these Uinen (if they are rightly read so) come from. But
it is certainly more probable, that such Ionian settlements, if actually
made in Egypt, should have been made from Asia Minor, than from
European Greece. But we seem to have here, what may eventually
turn out to be a good argument, rather than what we can now re-
ceive and rely upon as such. Even Curtius does not appear to ex-
pect that it will produce general conviction. " Every first attempt,"
he says, " to connect Greek and Egyptian history with one another,
to supplement the beginnings of one by materials drawn from the
other, must, however cautiously undertaken, encounter manifold ob-
jection, consisting either in a vague and general want of confidence,
or in scientific doubts as to the correctness of the method and the
certainty of the facts made use of." In the present case our suspi-
cions are stronger from the obscurity which rests on other names of
conquered nations found upon the monuments of these ancient Pha-
raohs ; hardly two or three of them, it is said, have been identified
with certainty. We must add, however, that Lepsius accepts with-
out hesitation the views of Curtius upon this point : he has no doubt
that the name in question refers to Ionian Greeks settled in Egypt,
" so that as early as the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, lonians,
that is, a part at least, a considerable colony of that people were
dependent on the Egyptian sovereigns."

We turn now from Oriental testimonies to inquire how far the
known facts of Grecian history support the theory in question. Cur-
tius asserts, that in particular localities on the coast of Asia and the
neighboring islands, there are traces of Ionian occupancy before the
time of the Ionian Migration. It is to be regretted that he has not
drawn out more at length this part of his argument. As it is, the
few brief indications which he gives hardly suffice to make a defi-
nite and satisfactory impression. Miletus and Ephesus, he says, were
even in name nothing but renewals of older settlements : and the
same fact is expressly attested in regard to Erythrae, Chios and Sa-
mos. Admitting now the correctness of these traditionary notices,
granting that the places mentioned were inhabited before the Ionian
Migration, are we authorized to assume, what is not contained in
the traditions, that these earlier occupants were lonians ? What
more natural than to find, that among the numerous places settled
by these colonists from Europe, some had been previously occupied

440

by the natives of the country ; who may have abandoned them be-
fore the time of the Ionian colonization ; or, in other instances, may
have been dispossessed and driven out by the colonists themselves ;
or, again, may have remained where they were, submitting to the
new-comers and fusing with them into one community.

Again, he urges that the worship of Apollo Didymaeus in his
sanctuary near Miletus — a worship common to all the Ionian? —
appears in tradition as older than the planting of the Ionian colony
in Miletus. In like manner, the Delian sanctuary of Apollo was
the Mother-sanctuary for all the stations of Apollo-worship in Greece,
and must therefore have existed earlier than the Ionian Migration,
though tradition very distinctly represents the island of Delos as
having at that time received its Greek population in place of the
Carians, its earlier inhabitants. I would not say there is no force in
the argument derived from these facts. Yet the question must be
raised ; granting, in accordance with the tradition, the primitive an-
tiquity of these places as stations of Apollo worship, how far may
we infer, what is not expressed in the tradition, that the primitive
worshippers were lonians? Curtius himself does not suppose that
the worship of Apollo was confined to the Greeks : he will not ven-
ture to say, that it originated with them ; he believes it to have been
extensively diffused among the non-Hellenic tribes of western Asia.
There is no strong improbability against the supposition, that the
lonians, instead of founding the establishments referred to, were only
the successors of their founders. It is well known that the nations
of antiquity regarded it as a point of great importance to keep up
local rites of worship even in conquered places. Curtius mentions,
that when the lonians were driven out by the Achaeans from north-
ern Peloponnesus, some of their families were retained in Helice in
order to continue there the former worship of Poseidon. And,
apart from this general feeling, the lonians were little likely to neg-
lect any old and celebrated sanctuary of Apollo, a divinity whom
they honored with peculiar veneration.

For further proof of primitive Ionian occupancy, we find our author
referring to the city of lasus, situated on a small island near the coast
of Caria. No tradition, he observes, was able to refer this Carian place
to any settlement proceeding from the west, and yet lasus with its
entire environment was, in more than name alone, a genuine, primi-
tive portion of Ionia. Now the Greek character of this place, and
even its Ionian character, will be readily admitted. But we know
not how to explain the statement, that no tradition could refer it to a
settlement proceeding from the west. For Polybius (xvi. 11), in a
passage which we can imagine no reason for discrediting, tells us
expressly, that lasus, according to the assertion of its people, was
settled by a colony of Argives, though, having afterwards lost a

441

considerable portion of its citizens in a war with the Carians, it re-
ceived a large reinforcement from Miletus, headed by a son of Nei-
leus, the Ionian founder of the latter city. lasus, then, appears in
the -same class with other Greek cities of Asia, which referred their
origin to European Greece : there can be no reason, why it should
be distinguished from the rest, as furnishing clearer evidence of a
primitive Ionian population in western Asia.

Curtius argues from the immediate and great prosperity of the set-
tlements established by the Ionian Migration, that they could not have
been planted among an alien people, on coasts before occupied only
by barbarians. But the Greek cities of Sicily and Southern Italy
were founded centuries later in regions where the previous inhabit-
ants were entirely and unquestionably barbarian : yet, notwithstand-
ing this original disadvantage, such was their progress, that in the
time of Xerxes, Hiero of Syracuse was the greatest power in the in-
dependent Grecian world, and perhaps a match for all others put
together. And later, we find the Greeks of Sicily maintaining their
ground, though with difficulty, in a long continued struggle against
the Carthaginians, a power which proved almost an overmatch for
Rome, when mistress of all Italy. Our author evidently feels that
this parallel progress of the Italiot Greeks tells against his argu-
ment : and, to weaken its force, asserts that the progress of the
Asiatic lonians was different and more remarkable in three particu-
lars. 1. They established a confederacy of their cities. But the
want of cooperation in the other case serves rather to increase the
marvel. 2. They developed a civilization more purely Hellenic. This,
however, may be accounted for by the fact, which probably all would
admit, that the barbarians of western Asia Minor were much more
like the Greeks than the barbarians of Southern Italy and Sicily ;
so that the extraneous influences were more nearly Hellenic in the
former case than in the latter. Nor does this general similarity of
Carians, Lycians, Phrygians, <fec., to the Greeks require us to 'sup-
pose that they had been in previous uninterrupted communication
with Greeks on the same shores, as our author assumes. He main-
tains, in fact, that the two sections of the Greek people preserved
their essential identity notwithstanding a separation for centuries by
the waters of the Aegean. 3. The lonians of Asia made higher
attainments in art and literature. True: but would the colonists of
Sicily have gone higher in these respects, if on their first landing
they had found the island half peopled by their countrymen ? Their
attainments, in fact, if inferior to those of the lonians, may com-
pare with the attainments of Dorians and Aeolians in Asia, though
these latter, as Curtius supposes, had the advantage of settling
among an old established population of their countrymen.

442

The strong point of this theory is the fact of its affording an ex-
planation for the peculiar position which the lonians appear to have
had in early Greece. The argument may be stated thus. A people
scattered far and wide along the sea coast, and found in the interior
only where they might have come by following a river-course back
from the sea — such a people are not likely to have reached their
seats by an overland emigration. The lonians in Greece, then, must
have come there by sea, and in all probability from the east; im-
mediately from the Aegean islands, remotely from Asia Minor. But
it is not likely, that a whole people settled on the Asiatic coast would
float over the sea in this way. Their wide diffusion in Greece makes
it probable, that there were successive expeditions, with a considera-
ble interval of time from first to last. As they were thus established
in large numbers and for a long time on the coast of Asia, it is
likely that a numerous people remained there, after the last expedi-
tion set sail toward Greece ; enough to maintain themselves in that
position, until after the lapse of centuries, they welcomed back their
returning brethren from the west. I will not stop to criticise the
probabilities in this argument. But I must not close Avithout ob-
serving, that, whatever advantages the theory under consideration
may give us in explaining the early times of Greece, they are not
gained without drawback : we encumber ourselves with some new and
serious difficulties. One of these has been already alluded to ; the
complete forgetfulness of Greek tradition as to the existence of these
primitive lonians of Asia. If the tradition, as our author holds, has
preserved some memory of their names and actions, it has at any rate
forgotten that they were lonians. This is the more strange, as the
national pride of lonians, living and flourishing in the same seats,
might naturally have clung with more tenacity to the ancient re-
nown of their ancestors. Why should they give up their own Ce-
crops and Danaus and Cadmus to the Egyptians and Phoenicians ?
Why should they remember so much about their early neighbors,
and nothing about their early selves ? Why should they remember
so much about Dardanians, Phrygians, Lycians, Carians in western
Asia, and nothing about louians there ? Or why should they re-
member so much about lonians in Attica and Peloponnesus, and
nothing about that people in their own Asia Minor ? Why should
a people whose forefathers, born on the same soil, had run a career
of wide-reaching activity and enterprise, forget its connection with
those forefathers, and attach itself instead to the distant and less
distinguished ancestors of a part only of its members ? Athens, ac-
cording to this view, was the daughter of an Asiatic mother. So
loner as there were lonians in Asia, the Athenians must have looked
to them as colonists to the inhabitants of the mother country, with
feelings' of respectful attachment, which were peculiarly strong in

443

the ancient Greek mind. Why then should Athenians, returning to
that mother country, forget the respect and attachment which they
had before cherished ? why should they forget their original connec-
tion with a country which had now become their own home ? If in
everything else the tradition lost its hold upon these primitive lonians,
we should expect, that it would have retained them in connection
with the Ionian Migration. How could it carry these wanderers
across the Aegean, without remembering the capital circumstance,
that they went, not to aliens or enemies, but to their own friends,
countrymen and kindred ? There is a singular unanimity in this
forgetfulness. Among a large number of cities, scattered along a
wide extent of sea-coast, we might have expected, that some one at
least would remember a fact so important in its early history. But
there is no single exception to the general obliviousness. It has a
greater extent, indeed, than we have yet noticed ; the Cyclades share
in it. If the view of Curtius be true, these islands must have re-
ceived their Greek population from the East, from Asia Minor. But
here again tradition is no less distinct and uniform in referring the
beginnings of Greek occupancy to colonization from the west, from
European Greece.

I will only notice further some particulars in the early Epic litera-
ture, which seem inconsistent with this theory. Almost all critics
are agreed now in referring the Homeric poems to a date earlier
than the year 800. They were composed then within two centuries
from the Ionian Migration, perhaps not more than a century after
that event. If we were to put the Ionian Migration at about 950,
and the composition of the Iliad and Odyssey at about 850, these
dates would perhaps correspond as nearly to the collective probabili-
ties of the case, as any that could be assigned. Now the remarka-
ble absence of allusions to Ionia, its places and people, in the Iliad
and Odyssey, which does not seem to be fully accounted for by the
Achaean subjects and Aeolian scenes of those poems, is naturally
explained by the recent arrival of the lonians in that country. Their
beginnings in Asia were still matters of historic recollection ; there
was still a conscious newness about their places and their doings,
which interposed a wide gulf between them and the ancient tradi-
tions of Achaeans and Dardans. But the theory of Curtius supplies
an immemorial past for the lonians in Asia, and thus renders the
phenomenon in question far more difficult of explanation. Again, a
people who had for centuries followed the Phoenicians in a career of
maritime enterprise, competing with them and in many places sup-
planting them as traders, must have become familiar with the use of
letters : and this, if true, would render still more unaccountable the
fact, already sufficiently perplexing, that these two long poems, with
their innumerable references to everything in the public and private

VOL. v. 57

444

life of the Homeric age, contain but one disputed and doubtful allu-
sion to the art of writing. And once more, a people who had wan-
dered for ages almost round the Mediterranean, must have acquired
a stock of geographical information, more extensive and accurate
than that represented in the poems of Homer. If, for instance, the
lonians were conversant with the Delta of the Nile for several cen-
turies, and as late as the time of Shishak, about 950, how could the
author of the Odyssey place the island of Pharos, which stood close
to the Egyptian coast, a full day's sail away from it ? And what
shall we say of the "speciosa miracula" which Horace admires,
"Antiphaten, Scyllamque, et cum Cyclope Charybdin?" How
could such notions prevail among a people, who had colonized
western Sicily and western Italy as far up as the Tiber, and even
the remoter island of Sardinia ?

We are aware, that the foregoing discussion does very imperfect
justice to a theory, the strength of which, in its author's own view,
lies not in a few decisive arguments, but in the simple, natural con-
nection, which it gives to many scattered facts. We wish, also, to ac-
knowledge, in the fullest manner, the ability and learning with
which it is supported. We admit that it throws light upon import-
ant points in Greek antiquity. We cannot, however, help feeling,
that the case is not yet made out in its favor, and that it would be
unsafe to accept it, until further discussion and the progress of
knowledge shall have weakened the objections which now present
themselves, and set the evidence for it in a clearer light. It is just
to add, that this theory is propounded by its author with all becom-
ing modesty. He recognizes the obscurities and perplexities which
environ his subject : and declares that his object in publishing his
views, is to determine from the discussion they call out, how far he
can himself hold fast to them as established truth. His views may
be imperfectly supported by the evidence : but they are not put for-
ward with that offensive dogmatism, which is perhaps nowhere more
common than in fields like this, where hardly anything whatever
can be known with certainty. J. H.

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edition. 1852. Second Part. 8th edition. 1850. Third Part.

4th edition. 1851. Calcutta. 12mo, pp. 40, 36, 36.
Stricikshavidhayaka, etc. Hindu Female Education advocated from

the examples of illustrious women, both ancient and modern.

Calcutta: 1851. 12mo, pp. 45. Bengali.
Manoranjana itihasa, etc. Pleasing Tales, etc. Calcutta: 1850.

12mo, pp. 35. Bengali.
Thakuradadara ushtravishayaka itihasa. [Stories of the camel.]

Calcutta: 1851. *8vo, pp.8. Bengali.
Thakuradadara hastivishayaka itihasa. [Stories of the elephant.]

Calcutta: 1851. 8vo, pp.8. Bengali.
A System of Logic ; written in Sanscrit by the venerable sage Boodh,

and expl. in a Sunsc. comm. by the very learned Viswonath Tur-

kaluncar. Transl. into Bengalee by Kashee Nath Turkopunch-

anun Calcutta: 1821. 8vo.

Elements of Natural Philosophy and Natural History, in a Series of

Familiar Dialogues. Designed for the instruction of Indian Youth.

By William Yates. 2nd edition Calcutta : 1834. 8vo.

Jyotirvidya. An Easy Introduction to Astronomy, for young per-
sons. Composed by James Ferguson, F. R. S., and revised by Da-
vid Brewster, LL.D. Transl. into Bengalee by William Yates.

Calcutta: 1833. 8vo.
Pracina itihasa samuccaya. An Epitome of Ancient History, etc.

Calcutta: 1830. 8vo. Bengali.
The Abridgment of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Greece ; transl. into

Bengalee for the use of schools and private students. By Khettro

Mohun Mookerjea Calcutta : 1833. 8vo.

Hindu! Primer Calcutta: 1851. 12mo, pp. 12.

Hindi Spelling-Book Calcutta : 1851. 12mo, pp. 80.

Hindi bhashaka vyakarana. A Hindi Grammar, for the instruction

of the young; in easy questions and answers. Calcutta : 1853.

12mo, pp. 68.
Niti Katha, or Fables, in the Hindui language, for the use of schools.

1st Part 1846. 2nd Part. 1845. Calcutta. 12mo, pp.

24, 18.
Cigubodhaka. Hindui Reader. Vol. i 3rd edition. 1851.

Vol. ii 1846. Vol. iii 1838. Calcutta. 12mo.

Manoranjana itihasa. Pleasing Tales, etc. Calcutta: 1846. 12mo,

pp. 23. Hindi.

VOL. T. b

XVI

Ganitanka pustaka. Arithmetic, for the use of Schools. By the
late Rev. M. T. Adam. Revised edition. Calcutta: 1847. 12mo,
pp. 92. Hindi.

Bhasha lilavati. [An Arithmetic, in Hindi.] Calcutta: 1852. 12mo.

Padarthavidyasara, etc. Elements of Natural Philosophy and Natu-
ral History, in a series of familiar dialogues. Calcutta: 1846.
12mo. Hindi.

Outlines of Geography and Astronomy and of the History of Hin-
dustan. Extr. from Pearce's Geog., with intr. chapter by L. Wil-
kinson, etc Calcutta: 1840. 12mo. Hindi.

Bhugola darpana, etc. Geography, in question and answer. Cal-
cutta: 1847. 12mo. Hindi.

Bharatavarshiya itihasa, etc. Marshman's History of India. Transl.
into Hindi. Calcutta: 1852. 12mo.

Upadega katha, etc. Stewart's Historical Anecdotes, with a Sketch
of the History of England, and her Connection with India. Transl.
by Rev. W. T. Adam. Hinduwee. 2nd edition. Calcutta: 1837.
8vo, pp. 48.

A Treatise on the Benefits of Knowledge ; etc. . . in Hindui

Calcutta: 1839. 12 mo, pp. 29.

Hindi kosha, etc. A Dictionary of the Hiudee Language, compiled
by Rev. M. T. Adam. Calcutta : 1839. 8vo. Hindi.

Kitab-i-tahajji, etc. Hindustani Spelling-Book, in two Parts. Parts
i. ii. Calcutta: 1852. 12mo, pp. 99.

Kava'id-i-zuban-i-urdu, etc. (Gilchrist's) Urdu Risalah, or Rules of
Hindustani Grammar. Calcutta: 1852. 12mo, pp. 77.

Pleasing Stories in Urdu, for the use of Children. Calcutta : 1848.
12mo, pp. 24.

Fables in Urdu, for the use of Schools. Part i. 1848. Part ii. . . .
1852. Calcutta. 12mo, pp. 36, 35.

Larkun ka darpan, etc. Looking-glass for Children. Calcutta :
1846. 12mo, pp. 36. Hindustani.

Natural Philosophy — Mechanics Calcutta: 1843. 12mo.

Usul 'ilm-i-hisab, etc. Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic, in Urdu ;
accommodated to the European system. Calcutta: 1852. 12mo,
pp. 87. Hindustani.

Miftah al-aflak, etc. An Easy Introduction to Astronomy. Calcutta :
1846. 12mo. Hindustani.

Maps (twenty), illustrative of Miss Bird's Astronomy. Oblong 4to.
(Explained in Hindustani.)

Avval jughrafiyah, etc. [An elementary Geography, in Hindustani.]
Calcutta: 1853. 12mo, pp. 85.

Mirat al-akalim, etc. Geography, in question and answer. Calcutta :
1845. l2mo. Hindustani.

Safar nameh, etc. [Travels of Mungo Park, translated into Hindus-
tani.] Calcutta: 1853. 12mo.

XV11

Tavarikh-i-Hind, etc. Marshman's History of India, translated into

Urdu. Calcutta: 1852. 12mo.
Tavarikh mutakaddimin o mutakhkherin ki, etc. [Ancient and

Modern History, in Hindustani.] Calcutta: 1852. 12mo.
Mufid-i-sibyan. Hindustani Reader. Vol. i. ... 1851. Vol. ii. . . .

1846. Vol. iii. ... 1847. Calcutta. 12mo.

Selections, Historical, Literary, and Scientific Calcutta: 1845.

12mo. Hindustani.

Makasid-i-'uluin, etc. A Treatise on the Objects, Advantages, and
Pleasures of Science, by Lord Brougham. Transl. into Urdu by
Syed Mohomed Meer, etc. Calcutta: 1841. 12mo.

An Introduction to the Santal Language ; consisting of a Grammar,
Reading Lessons, and a Vocabulary. By Rev. J. Phillips. Cal-
cutta : 1852. 16mo. (Bengali character.)

Santal Primer Calcutta: 1850. 12mo, pp.24. (Bengali

character.)

Sequel to the Santal Primer Calcutta : 1850. 12mo, pp. 44.

(Bengali character.)

A Primer of the Khasia Language.... Calcutta: 1852. 12mo,
pp. 11. (Roman character.)

Introductory Lessons in Oriya, for the use of schools. 3rd edition,
improved .... Calcutta : 1838. 12mo, pp. 24.

Need Cotha ; or Fables in the Oriya Language, for the use of schools.
. . . Calcutta : 1832. 12mo, pp. 46.

Elements of Natural Philosophy, in a series of familiar dialogues.
Vol. i. . . . Calcutta: 1840. 12mo. English and Oriya.

Elements of Natural Philosophy, designed for the Instruction of In-
dian Youth. Part i. . . . 1830. Part ii. . . . 1832. Calcutta. 8vo.

The Persian Primer, in three Parts : Elements, Accidence, and Fa-
bles. ... Calcutta: 1852. 12mo, pp. 72. Persian.

Kava'id-i-Farsi, etc or Rules in Persian Grammar. 3rd edi-
tion. Calcutta: 1853. 12mo, pp. 52. Persian.

Reaz-ul-Sanaih, or Garden of Arts : an abridgment of Persian rhet-
oric .... by Maha-Raja Kali-Krishna Bahadur, etc. Calcutta :

1847. 12rao, pp. 80. Persian.

The Persian Reader ; or Select Extracts from various Persian Writ-
ers. Vol. i. . . . 1824. Vol. ii. ... 1824. Vol. iii. . . . 1825.
Calcutta. 8vo.

Tujnees ool Loghat, or Discrimination between Words similar in

form, but different in meaning 3rd edition. Calcutta : 1826.

8vo, pp. 14. Persian.

Ifadeh-el-mubtedi, etc. Taleelat of Mowluvee Hubban. Calcutta :
1820. 8vo, pp. 25. Persian.

Khulaset-i-fahriset-i-nemai, etc. A Summary Index to the Bengal
Civil Code, . . . arranged by W. H. Trant, Esq., C. S., and Mowlu-
vee Niamut Ulee, etc. Calcutta: 1820. 8vo. Persian.

XVU1

Terjemeh-i-shesh mekal, etc. [Persian version of Nasir-ed-din's Six
Tracts of the Book of the Recognizance of Euclid.] Calcutta :
1824. 8vo.

A Collection of Maps (ten), explained in Persian. Oblong folio.

El-muntakhabat el-'arabiyyeh. The Arabic Reader, or Select Ex-
tracts from various Arabic Writers. Calcutta: 1828. 8vo.

Sitteh makalat min kitab tahrir el-Auklidis, etc. [Six Tracts of the
Book of the Recognizance of Euclid, by Nasir-ed-din, of Tus.]
Calcutta: 1824. 8vo.

Flora Burmanica, or a Catalogue of Plants, indigenous and cultiva-
ted, in the valleys of the Irawaddy, Salwen, and Tenasserim ....
by Rev. Francis Mason. Tavoy : 1851. 12mo.

By Prof. Max Muller, of Oxford.
Suggestions for the assistance of Officers in learning the Languages

of the Seat of War in the East. By Max Muller, M.A., etc.

With an Ethnological Map, drawn by Augustus Petermann.

London : 1854. 8vo.
Proposals for a Missionary Alphabet, submitted to the alphabetical

conferences held at the residence of Chev. Bunsen in Jan., 1854.

By Max Miilter, M. A., etc. London : 1 854. 8vo, pp. 53.
Letter to Chevalier Bunsen, on the Classification of the Turanian

Languages; by Max Muller, M. A., etc. [London: 1854.] 8vo.

By Rev. J. Murdoch, D.D.

Discoveries in Chinese, etc By Stephen Pearl Andrews. New

York: 1854. 12ino.

By the Nestorian Mission of tJie A. B. C. F. M.

The Old Testament in the Ancient and Modern Syriac, the former
the Peshito version, the latter a new translation from the Hebrew ;
in parallel columns. Oroomiah, Persia : 1853. 4to.

By the Ningpo Mission of the Board of For. Missions of the Presb.
Church in the U. States.

A list of all the different Sounds in the Ningpo Colloquial, roman-

ized. 8vo size, pp. 7.

Initials and finals of the Ningpo Colloquial, romanized. 1 p. folio size.
A Primer in Ningpo Colloquial, romanized. 8vo size, pp. 54.
Ih-Peng Shu, etc. [Life of our Saviour, in Ningpo Coll., romanized.]

Nying-po : 1851. 8vo size.
Ts'ing Tao, etc. [Rev. N. Hall's Tract : Come to Jesus, in Ningpo

Coll., romanized.] Nying-po : 1853. 12mo size, pp. 47.
Lu Hyiao-Ts. Nying-po: 1852. pp.9. Ih-pe Tsiu. Nying-po:

1852. pp. 12. [Stories of Frank Lucas and the Cup of Wine, in

Ningpo Coll., romanized.] In one vol. 16rao size.

XIX

Tsoen-Me Tsing Jing S. [Hymn Book, in Ningpo Coll., romanized.]
Nying-po: 1851. 16 mo size, pp.24.

Se-lah teng Hsen-nah. [Story of Sarah and Hannah, in Ningpo Coll.,
romanized]. Nyingpo: 1852. 24mo size, pp.12.

Son-Fah. [First sheets of an Arithmetic, in Ningpo Coll., roman-
ized.] 8vo size, pp. 1—16.

Di-Li Shu, etc. [Geography and History, in Ningpo Coll., roman-
ized.] Parts i.-iv. (in three vols., three copies of Part iv.) Nying-
po : 1852. 8vo size, pp. 185.

Di-Gyiu Du, etc. [A Geography, in questions and answers, with
maps; in Ningpo Coll., romanized.] Nying-po : 1853. Folio.

A Geography, by R. I. Way, of the Presb. Mission, Ningpo. [Ning-
po :] 1853. 8vo size. (2 copies.) Chinese.

Questions on Select Portions of Old Testament History ; with a Bib-
lical Map. Ningpo : 1852. 8vo size. Chinese.

By the Patent Office.

Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1853. Part i.
Arts and Manufactures. Washington : 1854. 8vo.

By Rev. J. Perkins, D. Z>., of Oroomiah.

Ancient Syriac MS., in the Nestorian character, of the History of
Alexander ; with a manuscript English translation, by Rev. J.
Perkins, D. D.

The Persian Flower : a Memoir of Judith Grant Perkins, of Oroo-
miah, Persia. Boston: 1853. 12m o.

By Rev. Henry N. Rankin, of Ningpo.

Mo-t'se Djiin Foh-ing Shii. [Gospel of Matthew, in Ningpo Collo-
quial, romanized ; translated by Rev. W. P. Martin and Rev. W.
A. Russell.] Nying-po : 1853. 8vo size.

Lu-kyiio Djun Foh-ing Shii. [Gospel of Luke, in Ningpo Coll., ro-
manized.] Nying-po : 1853. 8vo size.

Jah.'en Djiin Foh-ing Shii. [Gospel of John, in Ningpo Coll., roman-
ized ; translated by Rev. Messrs. Martin and Russell.] Ningpo :
1853. 8vo size.

By Professors Roth and Whitney.

Atharva-Veda Sanhita. Herausgegeben von R. Roth und W. D.
Whitney. Erste Abtheilung. [Text] Berlin: 1855. 8vo.

By the Royal Asiatic Society.

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ire-
land. Vol. xvi. Part 1. London : 1854. 8vo.

A Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts, in the Arabic
and Persian Languages, preserved in the Library of the R. A. S. of
G. B. and I. By Wm. H. Morley, etc. London : 1854. 8vo.

Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus. By Ram Raz, etc. With
forty-eight Plates. London : 1834. 4to, pp. xiv. 64,

By the Royal Society of Northern Antiquarians.

Societe Royale des Antiquares du Nord. Apergu, etc., le premier

Janv., 1852. 8vo, pp. 8. (2 copies).
The Discovery of America by the Northmen, and The Connection of

the Northmen with the East. [Brief sketches, by Prof. C. C.

Rafn.] 8vo, pp. 4. (4 copies).
Meddelelser angaaende Evangeliets Udbredelse i China. Udgivet

paa den chinesiske Missionsforenings Vegne af Chr. H. Kalkar, etc.

Nos. 1-12. 1851-52. Kjobenhavn. 8vo, pp. 96.

By Prof. E. E. Salisbury.

Nebzeh min Divan esh-Sheikh Nasif el-Yazijy, etc. [A portion of

the poems of .] Beirut : A. H. 1269 = A. D. 1853. 8vo.

Catalogue des Livres Imprimes et Manuscrits composant la Biblio-

theque de feu M. Eugene Burnouf. .... Paris : 1854. 8vo.
Journal de Constantinople. 8me Aimee. Nos. 455, 462, 470, 577-

79, 586, 587. 1853 and 1855.
Courrier de Constantinople, 10 Sept., 6 Dec., 20 Dec., 1853, 10 Jan.,

1854.
L'Impartial. Journal de Smyrne. 3me Annee. Nos. 708, 721,

723. 1853.
Holisso Auumpa Tosholi. An English and Choctaw Definer

By Cyrus Byington. New York : 1852. 12mo.
The Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, translated into the Choctaw

Language New York : 1852. 16mo.

The New Testament .... translated into the Choctaw Language.

New York: 1848. 12mo, pp. 818.

Vba Anumpa Mak, etc. A Book of Questions on the Gospel of

Mark, in the Choctaw Language By Rev. Alfred Wright,

etc. New York: 1852. 12mo.
Vba Anumpa Luk, etc. A Book of Questions on the Gospel of

Luke, in the Choctaw Language By Rev. Alfred Wright,

etc. New York: 1852. 12mo.

By Mr. Chr. D. Seropyan.

Arphiagan Hahasdani, etc. [The Glories of Armenia, a poem, in
Ancient Armenian, by Hohannes Merzayyan, of Van.] Ortakoy,
near Constantinople : 1836. 8vo, pp. 64"o.

XXI

By Rev. S. J. Smith, of Bangkok.

Graramatica Linguae Thai, auctore D. J. Bapt. Pallegoix, etc.

Bangkok: 1850. 4to.

Laws of Siam. Vol. i. Royal 8vo. Siamese.
The Gospel according to Matthew. Translated from the Greek ; re-
vised by S. Mattoon. Bangkok : 1853. 12mo, pp. 92. Siamese.
The Gospel according to Mark. (As above.) 1851. pp. 71.
The Gospel according to Luke. (As above.) 1854. pp. 96.
The Gospel according to John. (As above.) 1851. pp.88.
Acts, translated from the Greek by J. T. Jones, D. D. 3rd edition.

Bangkok : 1853. 12mo, pp. 77. Siamese.
Romans. (As above.) pp. 78-110.

Siamese Tracts, by Rev. J. T. Jones, D.D. Bangkok: 1853. 12mo.
viz :

Book of Parables. 5th edition, pp. 48.
Instructions of the Lord Jesus. 2nd edition, pp. 58.
The Golden Balance. 4th edition, pp. 36.

By Rev. D. T. Stoddard, of Oroomiah.

O Peremezhayushtshikhsya, etc. [Of the varying Changes of Level
of the Caspian Sea.] By N. Khanikof. 8vo, pp. 87. Russian.

By M. Garcin de Tossy, of Paris.

Memoire sur les Noms Propres et les Titres Musulmans. Par M.

Garcin de Tassy. (Extr. de 1'Annee 1854 du Journ. As.) Paris :

1854. 8vo, pp. 93.
Les Femmes Poetes dans 1'Inde. Par M. Garcin de Tassy. (Extr.

de la Revue de 1'Orient, etc., nro. de Mai 1854.) Paris : 1854.

8vo, pp. 10.

By Mr. H. W. Wales.

Kalidasa's Ring-Cakuntala. Herausgegeben, iibersetzt, und mit
Anmerkungen versehen, von Dr. Otto Boehtlingk, etc. Bonn :
1842. 8vo.

Franz Bopp iiber das Conjugationssystem der Sanskritsprache, etc.
Herausgegeben .... von Dr. K. I. Windischmann. Frankfort
am Main : 1816. 8vo.

Elementa Persica. Edidit Georgius Rosen. Berloni: 1843. 16mo.

The Present State of the Cultivation of Oriental Literature. A Lec-
ture by Prof. H. H. Wilson. London : 1852. 8vo, pp. 25.

By Dr. J. Wilson, Jr., U. S. N.
Fourteen small books printed in Japan.

XXII

By Unknown Donors.

An Address to the Alumni of the University of the City of New

York June 28, 1853. By Prof. J. W. Draper, M. D. New

York: 1853. 8vo, pp. 30.
An Address before the Association of the Alumni of the Univ. of the

City of New York, June 28, 1852. By C. S. Henry, D. D. New

York: 1853. 8vo, pp. 27.

WILLIAM D. WHITNEY, Librarian.

ADDITIONS

LIBRARY AND CABINET

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY,

SEPTEMBER, 1855 — OCTOBER, 1856.

ADDITIONS, ETC.

By the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Proceedings of the Amer. Ac. of Arts and Sciences. Vol. in, pp.
1-144. Boston: 1852-55. 8vo.

By the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M.

Observations on the Fevers of the West Coast of Africa. By Henry
A. Ford, M. D. New York: 1856. 12mo, pp. 48.

Reports and Letters connected with special meetings of the Mah-
ratta and Tamil Missions of the A. B. C. F. M., in Feb., Mar.,
Ap'l., May, and June, 1855. Also Reports of the Syrian Mission
and of a Conference at Constantinople. [Printed at Bombay,
Madras, Calcutta, and Boston : 1855-1 856.] 8vo.

By Prof. A. N. Arnold.

Resume des Actes de la Societe Archeologique de Grece." 2me Edi-
tion. Athens: 1847. 8vo.

Actes de la douzieme Reunion Generale de la Soc. Arch, de Grece.
Athens: 1848. 8vo, pp. 31.

Actes de la treizieme Reunion Generale de la Soc. Arch, de Grece.
Athens: 1849. 8vo, pp. 37.

Organisme de la Soc. Arch, de Grece. Athens : 1848. 8vo, pp. 16.

By the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
Vol. xv. Part 2. London: 1855. 8vo.

Thirty-second Annual Report of the R. A. S. of G. B. and I. Lon-
don : 1855. 8vo, pp. 16.

List of Members, Committees, etc., of the R. A. S. of G. B. and I.
London : 1855. 8vo, pp. 16.

Vestiges of Assyria. Sheet 1st. Ichnographic Sketch of the Re-
mains of Ancient Nineveh, with the Enceinte of the modern Mo-
sul. Sheet 2nd. Showing the positions and plan of the ancient
cities of Nimriid and Selamiyeh. Sheet 3d. Map of the Country
included in the angle formed by the River Tigris and the Upper
Zab. From trigonometrical surveys made by order of the Gov-
ernment of India in ... 1852, by Felix Jones, etc. . . , aided by
J. M. Hyslop, etc. . . . Three sheets, 50 by 30 inches. London :
1855.

XXVI

By the Asiatic Society of Paris.

Journal Asiatique 5me Serie, Tomes v. vi. Paris : 1855. 8vo.

By Rev. H. Ballantine, of Bombay.

Sacred Songs Published by the American Mission. Bombay :

1855. 8vo. Maratki.

By Hon. N. P. Banks.

Message from the President of the United States to the two Houses
of Congress at the commencement of the First Session of the
Thirty-fourth Congress. Parts I, II, ILL Washington: 1855.
3 vols. 8vo.

By the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences.

Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en
Wetenschappen. Deel xviii, xx, xxi, 1, xxi, 2. 1842-1847. 8vo.
Deel xxii-xxv. 1849-1853. 4to. Batavia.

Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde. Uitge-
geven door het Batav. Gen. van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, onder
Redaktie van P. Bleeker, etc. Jaargang I, Aflevering 1-12. 1852
-1854. Jaargang II, Aflevering 1-4. 1854. Batavia. 8vo.

By the Bombay Auxiliary Brit, and For. Bible Society.

Jubilee Commemoration at Bombay of the British and Foreign Bi-
ble Society, 21st Dec., 1853. Including a historical view of the
translation and circulation of the Scriptures by the Bombay Aux-
iliary Society. Bombay: 1854. 8vo, pp. 92.

By the Bombay Branch of the Roy. As. Society.

Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Nos.
xvi. xviii. xix. Bombay: 1852-54. 8vo.

By Sir John Bowring, of Hong-Kong.

A Letter on the Population of China. By Sir John Bowring. [Ar-
ticle I. of Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society.] [Hong-Kong:] 1855. 8vo, pp. 16.

By Hon. Chas. W. Bradley, of Singapore.

The Chinese Repository. [A monthly Journal.] Vols. xi-xiii, xv-

xviii. Canton: 1842-49. 7 vols. 8vo.
A General Index of Subjects contained in the twenty Volumes of

the Chinese Repository; with an arranged list of the articles.

Canton : 1851. 8vo, pp. clxviii.
A Manifesto issued by the Chinese of Canton, warning Dr. Peter

Parker, U. S. Commissioner to China, not to come to that city ;

posted in the streets and cm the Walls of the city, January, 1$56.

On red paper, 16^- by 10 inches.
The Chinese War : an account of all the operations of the British

forces, from the commencement to the treaty of Nanking. By

Lieut. John Ouchterlony, etc. 2nd Edition. London: 1844. 8vo.
'Elkitab, etc. The Holy Bible, in High Malay, romanized. London :

1821. 8vo, pp. 1060 and 345.
Injil Alkudus, etc. The New Testament, in High Malay, Arabic

character. Harlem: 1820. 8vo.
Kitab Alkudus, etc. The New Testament in Malay [dialect of the

Straits]. Singapore: 1853. 8vo.

A letter, manuscript, in the Malay language, to the Sultan of Rhio.
The New Testament, in Javanese. 8vo, pp. 760, xvi.

" in Siamese ; translated by Rev. J. T. Jones,

D. D. Bangkok: 1849-53. 12mo.
A sheet of Siamese, as specimen of a new fount of type, of large

size, made by J. II. Chandler. [Bangkok.]
The Hongkong Government Gazette. New Series. Vol. I. Nos. 51

and 52 ; containing the treaty between Great Britain and Siam,

of April 18, 1855, and the supplement to that treaty, of May 13,

1856. Victoria: 1856. Folio, pp. 12.
A sheet containing the Singhalese alphabet, the single letters and

their various combinations.

Singhalese Spelling Book. ... Colombo: 1856. 12mo, pp. 48.
" Reading Book. Part I. ... 1851. pp. 59. Part II. ...

1852. pp. 113. Colombo. 12mo.
Singhalese Arithmetic, for the use of Native Schools. Part I. ...

Colombo: 1852. 12mo, pp. 36.
Singhalese Tracts : —

An Abridgement of the Church of England Liturgy, read by the
Wesleyans. [Colombo]: 1853. 12mo, pp. 12.

Wesleyan Catechism. Colombo: 1851. 12nio, pp 23.

The Advantages of Devil Ceremonies. [Colombo]: 1851. l2mo,

pp.4.
The Holy Bible, translated into Singhalese. The Pentateuch And

Joshua Colombo: 1854. 12mo, pp. 579.

The History of Ceylon, from the earliest period to the present time.

By John Pereira, etc. Colombo: 1853. 12mo. Singhalese.
A Pali Grammar, in Singhalese, on fifty strips of palm leaf, If by

13 inches.

Thirty-nine colored drawings, 13 by 16 inches, illustrating the su-
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A colored drawing, 10^- by 16 inches, by a native Singhalese artist,

representing the figures symbolizing the Signs of the Zodiac.
Stories, in Tamil. 8vo.

XXV111

The Holy Bible, in Canarese. Joshua to II Chronicles. 8vo,

" Colossians to Revelations. 8vo.

Arabya Upanyasa [The Arabian Nights' Entertainments,

translated from English into Bengali, by Nilamani Vasaka-kar-

trka.] Calcutta: $aka 1260 (A. D. 1844.) 8vo, pp. 576.
The Holy Bible, translated into the Hinduee language, by the Rev.

William Rowley, .... Vol. ii. I Chronicles to Malachi

Calcutta : 1834. 8vo.
The New Testament. . . . Altered from Martyn's Oordoo translation

into the Hinduee language, by the Rev. William Rowley, ....

Calcutta: 1826. 8vo.
Bagh o Bahar, consisting of entertaining Tales in the Hindustani

language, by Mir Amman of Dihli, etc. Third Edition .... by

Duncan Forbes, LL.D., etc. London: 1851. Royal 8vo, pp. iv.

257, (120).
The East India Gazetteer ; containing particular descriptions of the

empires, kingdoms . . . . , etc. of Hindostan, and the adjacent

countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the Eastern Archipelago;

together with sketches of the manners, customs . . . . , etc. of

their various inhabitants. By Walter Hamilton. London : 1815.

8vo, pp. xv. 862.
Memoir of the Rev. C. T. E. Rhenius, comprising extracts from his

Journal and Correspondence, with details of missionary proceed-
ings in South India. By his Son. London: 1841. 8vo, pp. xii.

627.
Simplification des Langues Orientales, ou Methode nouvelle et facile

d'apprendre les langues Arabe, Persane et Turque, avec des carac-

teres Europeens. Par C.-F. Volney. Paris : 3 (of Republic :

A. D.I 795.) 8vo, pp. 136.
The Psalms of David, in Coptic and Arabic. London: 1826.

Small 4to.

The Four Gospels, in Coptic and Arabic. London : 1 829. Small 4to.
A w ndow-shade, of woven paper ; Chinese manufacture.
A fan of Chinese manufacture, having upon one side a plan of the

city of Canton.
An image of Osiris, ancient Egyptian, with hieroglyphic inscription :

10^ inches high.

The bowl of a common Egyptian chibouk, or smoking-pipe.
Three silver dollars, of Chinese, Japanese, and Formosan coinage ;

all very rare.

A Siamese tical, of pure silver, worth sixty cents.
An eighth, a quarter, a half, and a whole Rupee, coinage of the East

Indian Company.
A set of copper and small silver coins, the current money of modern

Egypt.

XXIX

By Prof. H. JBrockhaus, of Leipzig.

Die Lieder des Hafiz. Persisch mit dem Commentare des Sudi
herausg. von Hermann Brockhaus. Ersten Bandes Zweites Heft.
Leipzig: 1854. Royal 8 vo.

By John P. JBrown, Esq., of Constantinople.

Hatti-Sherif, or Imperial Decree, of Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of Turkey,
in favor of religious freedom in his dominions. [1856.] Two cop-
ies, one in Turkish and one in French.

By Dr. J. G. Cogswell.

Catalogue of Books in the Astor Library relating to the Languages
and Literature of Asia, Africa, and the Oceanic Islands. New
York: 1854. 8vo, pp. 424. Lithographed.

By the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Information respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the
Indian Tribes of the United States. Collected and prepared . .
by Henry R. Schoolcraft, LL.D. Part V. Philadelphia: 1855.
4to. '

By the Commissioner of Patents.

Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1854. Arts and
Manufactures. 2 vols. Washington : 1855. 8vo.

By Richard Cull, Esq., of London.

Acoustics and Logic, in their application to reading aloud. A Lec-
ture delivered in University Hall, Oct. 12, 1855. With an Ap-
pendix on the Clergyman's Sore Throat. By Richard Cull, etc.
London : 1855. 8vo, pp. 20.

By the Ethnological Society of London.

Journal of the Ethnological Society of London. Vol. iv. London :
1856. 8vo.

The Regulations of the Ethnological Society of London. 1855. 8vo,
pp. 15. (2 copies.)

List of the Ethnological Society of London. May 25th, 1855. 8vo,
pp. 7. (4 copies.)

Address to the Ethnological Society of London, delivered at the An-
nual Meeting of the 25th May, 1855, by John Conolly, etc.,
President. And a Sketch of the recent Progress of Ethnology,
by Richard Cull, Honorary Secretary. London : [1855]. 8vo,
pp. 45.

By the French Oriental Society.

Revue de 1'Orient, de 1'Algerie et des Colonies, Bulletin de la Societ6
Orientale de France Dec. 1855. Paris. Royal 8vo.

XXX

By the Qernwn Oriental Society.
£eitschrift der Deutachen Morgenlsiudischen Gesellschaft . . . , ix. 3,

4. x. 1,2,3. Leipzig: 1855-56. 8vo.
Indische Studien herausgegeben von Dr. Albrecht Weber, etc.

iii. 2,3. Berlin: 1855. 8vo.
Veteris Testament! Aethiopici Tomus Primus, sive Octateuchus

Aethiopicus instr. Dr. August Dillman Fasc. Tertiua.

.... Lipsiae : 1855. Small 4to.

By Rev. L. Grout, of Umsunduzi, S. Africa.

A Letter to an American Missionary, from the Bishop of Natal.
Natal: 1855. 8vo, pp. 70.

An Answer to Dr. Colenso's " Letter" on Polygamy. By an Amer-
ican Missionary. Pietermaritzburg : 1856. 8vo, pp.103.

By Prof. James Hadley.

A Reply to Bishop Colenso's " Remarks on the Proper Treatment of
Cases of Polygamy, as found already existing in Converts from
Heathenism." By an American Missionary. Pietermaritzburg :
1855. 8vo, pp. 56.

By Baron Hammer-Purgstall, of Vienna.

Geschiehte Wassafs. Persisch herausgegeben und deutsch iibersetzt
von Hammer-Purgstall. I Band. Wien: 1856. 4to, pp. x, 275
and 296.

By Prof. C. A. Holmboe, of Christiania.

Det Old-Norske Verbum, oplyst ved Sammenliguing med Sanaerit
og andre Sprog af Samme Mi. Af C. A. llolmboe, etc. Chris-
tiania : 1848. 4to. pp. iv. 34.

Norsk og Keltisk. Om det Norske og de Keltiske Sprogs indbyrdes
Laan. Af C. A. Holmboe, etc. Christiania: 1854. 4to. pp. 25.

By Dr. S. R. House, of Bangkok.

Autograph letter of S. P. P. M. Mengkut, present King of Siam, to
Dr. House, respecting a rain-guage ; written in English.

By Rev. J. W. Johnson, of Hong- Kong.

Translation of the Ts'ing Wan K'e Mung, a Chinese Grammar of
the Manchu Tartar Language ; with introductory notes on Man-
chu Literature. [By A. Wylie.] Shanghae : 1855. 8vo. pp. ii.
LXXX, 314.

The Jews at K'ae-Fung-Foo : being a Narrative of a Mission of Jn-
quiry, to the Jewish Synagogue, at K'ae-Fung-Foo . . . . : with an
Introduction, by the Righ,t Rev. Geo. Smith, D. D., Lord Bishop
ef Victoria, ghanghae : 1851. 8vo, pp. xii. 82.

Fac-similes of the Hebrew Manuscripts, obtained at the Jewish Syn-
agogue in K'ae-fung-foo. [Contains the 13th, 23d, 30th, and 47th
Sections of the Law, or Exodus i. 1 — vi. 1 ; xxxviii. 21 — xl. 38.
Leviticus xix. xx. Deut. xi. 26 — xvi. 17.] Shanghae : 1851.
Small 4to size, pp. 149. Xylographed.

By Prof. Richard Lepsius, of Berlin.

Standard Alphabet for reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign
Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters.
By 1 >r. Lepsius, etc. Recommended for adoption by the Church
Missionary Society. London: 1855. 8vo, pp. 73.

By Mrs. E. Lock, of Calcutta.

The Ramayun ; translated into Bengalee by Krittee-Bas. Book II.

2nd edition. Serampore : 1830. 12mo.
The Indian Miscellany ; being Selections from the Works of the best

original Writers, both instructive and entertaining. Calcutta:

1843. 8vo.

By Mr. J. Long.

A Descriptive Catalogue of Bengali Works, containing a classified
list of fourteen hundred Bengali books and pamphlets, which
have issued from the press during the last sixty years, with occa-
sional notices of the subjects, the price, and where printed. By
J. Long. Calcutta: 1855. 12mo.

By the Madura Mission of the A. B. C. F. M.

The Tamil Quarterly Repository, i. 1, 2, 3, 4. ii. 1, 2. Madras :
1854-55. RoyafSvo. Tamil.

Tamil Hymns in English Metre Chants, consisting mostly of

selections from the Sacred Scriptures adapted to appropriate mu-
sic Sacred Lyrics: or Religious Odes in Tamil Metres.

Adapted for Public Worship. Selected principally from the po-
etical compositions of Vadanaiagan, Tanjore. [Bound in one vol.]
Madras : 1853. 8vo. Tamil.

Dr. Cogswell's Theological Class Book, in Tamil. Madras : 1852.
12mo. i

By the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries.

Memoires de la Societe Royale des Antiquaires du Nord. 1845-49.
Copenhague : 1852. 8vo.

By Dr. Charles Pickering.

Arabic Manuscripts, collected on the eastern coast of Africa, from
Zanzibar to Mocha : viz.

A work on tradition, without title, by Al-Athary. s. 1. and s. a.
30 leaves, 7£ by 5£ inches.

X3LX11

Book of the Treasure of Truths, respecting the Tradition of

the Best of Creatures [i. e. Mohammed], by AI-Munawy.

s. 1. and s. a. incomplete : leaves 1-90, 9 by 6£ inches.
Book of the Qualities of the Prophet, and of his Dispositions

and Actions, by At-Tirmidhy ; a part of his collection of

traditions entitled Aj-Jami'. s. 1. A. II. 1253. 44 leaves, 9

by 6£ inches.
A work on the six cardinal doctrines of Mohammedanism,

without title or name of author, s. 1. and s. a. 8 leaves,

6£ by 4^ inches.
Book of Proved Advantages and Shining Lights respecting the

Kecitation of the Formula of Benediction of the Elect

Prophet, s. 1. and s. a. imperfect. 16 leaves, 8f by 6f

inches.
Chapters 17-25 of the Koran, s. 1. and s. a. 40 leaves, 8fby

6 inches.
A portion of the Koran, s. 1. A. H. 1231. 23 leaves, 6 by 4

inches.

Extracts from the Koran, including chapters 67 and 76, fol-
lowed by a prayer, s. 1. and s. a. Written on 29 leaves of

an American pocket account- book.
Fourteen manuscripts, and portions of manuscripts, containing

chiefly prayers or matter of a devotional character.
Sundry manuscripts, and manuscript fragments, of undefined

character and insignificant value.

By the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

A Grammar of the Benga Language. By Rev. James L. Mackey.
New York: 1855. 12mo, pp. 60.

By Rev. Edward Robinson, D. D.

Theologische Schriften der alten Aegypter, nach dem Turiner Papy-
rus zum ersten Male iibersetzt. Nebst Erklarung der zweisprach-
igen Inschrirten des Steins von Rosette, etc .... Von Dr. Gus-
tav Seytfarth. Gotha : 1 855. 8vo.

Grammatica Aegyptiaca. Erste Einleitung zum Uebersetzen alta-
gyptischer Literaturwerke, nebst der Geschichte des Hieroglyph-
enschlii.-sels: von Dr. Gustav Seyft'arth. Gotha: 1855. 8vo, pp.
XLVI, 120, and 92.

By Prof. E. Rodiger, of Halle.

Bemerkungen liber die phonikische Inschrift eines am 19. Januar
1855 nahe bei Sidon gelundenen Konigs-Saikophags. Von E.
KoJiger. [Extract from the Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morg. Gesellsch.
vol. ix.j [Leipzig: 1855.J 8vo, pp. 13.

xxxm

By Mons. L. Leon de Rosny.
Notice sur le Thuja de Barbaric [Callitris Quadrivalvis], et sur quelqties

autres arbres de 1'Afrique boreale. Par M. L. Leon de Rosny, etc.

(Extrait du Bulletin de FAlgerie, etc.) Paris et Alger : 1856.

8vo, pp. 19.
Quelques Observations sur la Langue Siamoise, et sur son ficriture,

par M. L. Leon de Rosny, etc. (Extrait . . . . du Journal Asiat-

ique.) Paris: 1855. 8vo, pp. 16.

By Prof. E. E. Salisbury.

Asiatick Researches : etc. Printed verbatim from the Calcutta edi-
tion. Vols. i-vi. London: 1801. 8vo.

By George R. Sampson, Esq.

A copy of Keying's petition for the toleration of the Christian reli-
gion iu China, (jilt characters, on scarlet satin, mounted on bro-
cade. 72 by 28^ inches, on rollers.

A diploma of office, in Chinese and Manchu. 12^- by 102 inches,
on rollers.

By Mr. Chr. D. Seropyan.

Modern Armenian Manuscript ; copy of a poem recited by the pu-
pils of the Armenian High School, at llaskoy, near Constantino-
ple, at the Anniversary of the School, Feb. 26th, 1838. Folio,
pp. 7.

By the Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Vols. vii, viii. Wash-
ington: 1856. 4to.

Ninth Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian
Institution, etc. Washington: 1855. 8vo.

By Rev. D. T. Sloddard, of Oroomiah.

Sur les derniers Tremblements de Terre dans la Perse Septentrionale,
etc., par M. Abich. [Extract from the Melanges physiques etchim-
iques of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.] 1855. 8vo,
pp. 33.

Lettre de M. Khanykov a M. Dorn. [Communication des noms geo-
graphiques qui se trouvent mentionnes dans 1'ouvrage de Nar-
chahi.] [Extract from the Melanges Asiatiques cf the Imperial
Academy of St. Petersburg.] 1855. 8vo, pp. 20.

By Messrs. Trubner & Co., of London.

Catalogue of Books, chiefly in the Oriental Languages, constantly
on sale by Trubner & Co., 12 Paterncster Row. London: 1853.
8vo, pp. 40.

XXXIV

By the Royal University of Christiania.

Norsk og Keltisk. Om det Norske og de Keltiske Sprogs indbyrdes

Laan. At' C. A. Ilolmboe, etc. Christiania: 1854. 4to, pp. 25.
Das chemische Laboratorium der Universitat Christiania, .... etc.,

herausgegeben von Adolph Strecker, etc. Christiania: 1854. 4to.
Index Scholarum in Universitate regia Fredericiana . . . anno 1854

. . . habendarum. Christiania: 1854. 4to, pp. 16.
Syphilizationen studeret ved Sygesengen. Af Wilhelm Boeck, etc.

Christiauia: 1854. 8vo.

By Rev. E. Webb, of Dindigal

Keinarks on some lately-discovered Roman Gold Coins. By Capt.
Prury s. 1. and s. a. 8vo, pp. 1 7.

A Description of Roman Imperial Aurei found near Calicut on the
Malabar Coast, and now in the possession of his Highness the Ra-
jah of Travancore. By the Rev. R. Caldwell, B. A., of Tinnevelly.
Trevandrum : 1851. 8vo.

By Prof. Albrecht Weber, of Berlin.

Ueber den Semitischen Ursprun<r des Indischen Alphabetes. Von

Dr. A. Weber. [Extract from the Zeitseh. d. Detitsch. Morg.

Gesellsch. vol. x.] [Leipzig : 1 856.] 8vo, pp. 18.
Malavika und Agnimitra. Ein Drama des Kalidasa in fiinf Akten.

Znm ersten Male aus dem Sanskrit iibersetzt von Albrecht Weber.

Berlin : 1856. 16mo.

By Rev. M. C. White, M. D.

The Chinese Language spoken at Fuh-Chau. By Rev. M. C. White,
M. D. [pp. 352-381 of the Methodist Quarterly Review.] [New
York:] 1856. 8vo, pp. 32. (5 copies.)

By Prof. W. D. Whitney.

A Review of Dr. Colenso's Remarks on Polygamy, as found existing
in Converts from Heathenism. By the Rev. H. A. Wilder, Amer-
ican Missionary. Reprinted from the Natal Star. Durban : 1856.
8vo, pp. 42.

By Rw. John Wilson, D. D. of Bombay.

History of the Suppression of Infanticide in Western India under
the Government of Bombay ; including notices of the provinces
and tribes in which the practice has prevailed. By Rev. John
Wilson, D. D., etc. Bombay: 1855. 8vo.

By William Winlhrop, Esq., of Malta.
A large roll of old naval charts, of various seas and coasts.

XXXV

The following Additions to the Library and Cabinet should have
been earlier acknowledged. A tew of them were passed over by
mistake a year since; but the greater part are of earlier date, hav-
ing been found in the possession of the Society, unacknowledged,
upon a recent thorough examination of its property.

By Rev. Cephas Bennett, of Tavoy.

A View of Ecclesiastical History, prepared for the use of the higher
Karen schools, and the teachers and pastors of the Karen churches.
By E. B. Cross. Vol. I. From the Birth of Christ, to the Reign
of Constantino Tavoy : 1851. 12mo.

By Hon. C. W. Bradley, of Singapore.

A Chinese Map of the World and of China. Peking: 1672. 54-
by 29 inches.

By the Committee on the Library.

Report of the Committee on the Library [Boston], in relation to the

donations received from the City of Paris, Boston :

1849. 8vo, pp. 72.

By W. W. Greenough, Esq.

Geographical Sketch of the Indian Archipelago. 1833. 8vo size.
Chinese.

By Rev. Dr. Lang.

Freedom and Independence for the Golden Lands of Australia ; the
Right of the Colonies, and the Interest of Britain and of the
World. By John Dunmore Lang, D. D., etc. London : 1852.
12 mo.

By the late Rev. Henry Lobdell, M. D., of Mosul.

Arabic Manuscript, containing a Genealogy of the family of Adam
and Abraham, and a list of the Pashas of Mosul, since A. H.
1000. 4to size, pp. 16.

A manuscript Hebrew Prayer, from the tomb of Nahum, at Al-
Kosh, near Mosul, such as pilgrims to the tomb are used to affix
to the walls of it.

A bouyourouldou and teskereh, or permit and pass, from the Turk-
ish authorities to Dr. Lobdell, for the journey from Mosul to
Diarbekr.

Two Assyrian cylinders, one of red jasper, the other of bluish
chalcedony, engraved with emblematic devices. (See above,
p. 191.) '

XXXVI

Five silver coins, one of Alexander the Great, one of the Seleucida
Philip, son of Antiochus VIII. one of the Parthian king Rolaga-
sus, one of the Persian monarch Sapor I. and one of the Omnie-
ide Khalif Walid Htn 'Abd-el-Malek. (See above, p. 270 )

Two little gems, Assyrian relics, the one an opal, plain, the other an
amethyst, with the figure of a lion engraved upon it.

By Rev. D. B. McCartee, M. D., of Ningpo.

Two impressions from the face of the Nestorian monument of Si-
ngan fu ; about 66 by 33 inches each. (See above, p. 260.)

Two copies of a tract attributed to Lao-tse, lithographed from the
manuscript of Commissioner Lin. 8vo size, pp. 6. (See above,
p. 261.)

By Rev. J. Perkins, D. D., of Oroomiah.

Anonymous letter in Persian, to Rev. Dr. Perkins, on linen cloth, in
green ink. (See this Journal, vol. iii. p. 211.)

By Hon. J. Pickering.

A Catalogue of Arabic, Turkish and Persian Manuscripts. The
private collection of Win. B. Hodgson. Washington: 1830.
12mo, pp. 10.

By the Smithsonian Institution.

Vocabulary of the Jargon, or Trade Language of Oregon. Wash-
ington : 1853. 8vo, pp. 24.

By Wm. C. Waters, Esq.

Specimen page of Marathi, Guzerati, and Zend characters, with an-
other page of remarks upon them. 8vo.

By Rev. A. H. Wright, of Oroomiah.

Three leaves, covered with Arabic characters, disposed in the form
of stars, written by the Persian religious impostor Bab, while im-
prisoned at Charee.

By Unknown Donors.

The Chinese Repository. [A monthly Journal.] Vols. i, iv, v, VT,

ix. complete; Vol. in. 9-12; Vol. vn. 1-8; Vol. vm. 7-12;

Vol. x. 1-4 ; Vol. xi. 5-7, 9, 10 ; and duplicates of i. 5, m. 12,

iv. 2, vm. 7. Canton: 1832-1842. 8vo.
The Indo-Chinese Gleaner. [A quarterly Journal], Nos. v-x. xin.

xiv. xvii. xviir. Malacca: 1818-1821. 8vo.

xxxvn

Esop's Fables, written in Chinese by the learned Mun Mooy Seen-
Shang, and compiled in the present form (with a free and a lit-
eral translation) by his pupil Sloth [Robert Thorn, Esq.] .... Can-
ton : 1840. Folio.

A Peep at China, in Mr. Dunn's Chinese Collection ; with miscel-
laneous notices relating to the institutions and customs of the Chi-
nese, and our commercial intercourse with them. By E. C. Wines.
Philadelphia: 1839. 8vo, pp. vi. 103.

First Annual Report of the Morrison Education Society : read 27th
Sept. 1837. Canton: 1837. 8vo, pp. 29.

Proceedings relative to the formation of a Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge in China. Canton : 1835. 8vo, pp. 13.

A slip from the office of the North-China Herald, containing a re-
print of an article in the London Athenaeum, No. 1218, for March
1st, 1851, on the word to be employed in Chinese for expressing
the Christian idea of God. Shanghae: 1851.

A native Chinese Almanac, for the 26th year of Tao-Kwang (A. D.
1846). 8vo size.

A Chinese Tract, The Two Friends, by Rev. Wm. Milne, D. D.
Hong- Kong : 1844. 8vo size.

A Chinese Tract, The Different Deaths of Good and Bad Men.
Hong-Kong: 1844. 12mo size.

A Chinese Tract, The Birth of Teen-How, Queen of Heaven, by
Rev. W. Medhurst, D. D. 8vo size.

Buddhist pictorial description of the Brahmin and Nat countries ;
of Meynmo mountain, its lakes and rivers ; of the four great isl-
ands or continents ; of the sixteen countries where Gaudama ap-
peared ; of the inferior states of being below man ; and of the
states of punishment still lower down, under Meynmo mountain.
On 60 double strips of palm-leaf, each 2£ by 20 inches. Barman.

A Burman tract, containing a Catechism of Religion, etc. Maulmeiu :
1836. 8vo.

A Burman tract, the Investigator, by Rev. Mr. Wade. 12mo, pp. 24.

Brahmunicnl Magazine. The Missionary and the Brahinun, No. 2.
Serampore: 1821. 8vo. Bengali and English.

The Gospel Magazine [Monthly periodical, in Bengali and English],
Nos. 7-12. June-November, 1820. Calcutta. 8vo.

Samacara-Darpana. [A Bengali newspaper, 5th No., for June 20,
1818.] Calcutta. Folio, pp. 4. 2 copies.

A Sheet, 20 by 15 inches, giving in large characters the Bengali
alphabet and numerals. 3 copies.

Alubb el-Khabr el-Aujedy wa el Bahr ez-Zakhir el-Elma'iy. A
collection of traditionary accounts respecting the life and charac-
ter of the Prophet Mohammed ; with commentary in margin.
By Abft 'Isa Mohammed . . et-Tirmidhy. Constantinople. A. II.
1264. 8vo size, pp. 128. Lithographed.

X.XXYU1

Essai sur 1'FFistoire de la Medecine Beige avant le XIXme Siecle,
par C. Broeckx Gand, Bruxelles, et Mons : 1837. 8vo.

List of works printed by, and in preparation for, the Oriental Trans-
lation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. 8vo, pp. 16. 2 copies.

The Museum. A Catalogue raisonne of rare, valuable, and curious
books, offered ... by Bernhard Quaritch. London : 1855. 8vo,
^ pp. 32.

Various German catalogues of antiquarian books.

A parcel of copper coins : three antique, with Cufic inscriptions ;
one of Shah Alum Beg ; the rest recent coinage of British India,
the Dutch Possessions, and a Malay state. Also, a parcel of Chi-
nese cash.

WILLIAM D. WHITNEY, Librarian.

SELECT MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY.

A Semi-annual Meeting was held in New Haven, on the 17th and
18th of October, 1855. The President, Rev. Dr. Robinson, in the
chair.

The Librarian reported, on behalf of the Library Committee, that,
in accor lance with the vote of the Society at the last Annual Meet-
ing, its Library and Cabinet had been removed to New Haven, and
deposited in the rooms of the Library of Yale College ; and that
such progress as the time permitted had been made in the work of
arranging, cataloguing, and labelling the books. They farther re-
ported the following Rules for the Management of the Library, viz:

1st. The Library, in its place of deposit, shall be accessible for
consultation to all Members of the Society, at such times as the
Library of Yale College, with which it is deposited, shall be
open fora similar purpose; farther, to such other persons as
shall receive the permission of the Librarian, or of the Libra-
rian, or Assistant Librarian, of Yale College.

2nd. Members of the Society shall be allowed to draw and re-
move books from the Library under the following conditions,
to wit: the person receiving such books shall give his receipt
for them to the Librarian, pledging himself to make good any
detriment the Library may suffer from their loss or injury, the
amount of said detriment being in every case to be estimated
and determined by the Librarian, with the assistance of the
President, or of one of the Vice-Presidents ; and he shall re-
turn such books within a time not exceeding three weeks from
their reception, unless by special agreement and assent of the
Librarian the term shall be extended.

3rd. Persons not members shall also, on special grounds, and at
the discretion of the Librarian, be allowed to take and use the
Society's books, upon depositing with the Librarian a sufficient
security that they shall be duly returned in good condition, or
their loss or damage fully compensated.

This report was, upon motion, accepted, and the rules proposed by
the Committee were adopted.

The following papers were presented :
On the root PRACH in Greek (in the word ^SOTT^ITJO;) ; by Prof.

James Hadley, of New Haven.
On the Philosophy of Buddhism ; by Rev. Francis Mason, of Bur-

mah.

On Oriental Poetry ; by Rev. W. R. Alger, of Boston.
On Archaeological Researches in the Acropolis of Athens, being a

translation of a paper by K. S. Pittakys, Secretary of the Archae-
ological Society of Athens ; by Prof. A. N. Arnold, of Newton.
On Chinese Literature, being an abstract of Prof. Wilhelm Schott's

Sketch of a Description of the Chinese Literature, Berlin, 1854;

by Prof. W. D. Whitney, of New Haven.

Prof. Salisbury, of New Haven, spoke with regard to the disposi-
tion which had been made upon the Phenician monument of Sidon,
and the present condition of the work of deciphering the inscription
upon it.

Dr. S. R. House, of Bangkok, Siam, presented a Map of the Siam-
ese rivers, plotted from actual surveys made by himself, and exhib-
ited various Siamese documents, pictures, and curiosities, with ex-
planatory remarks respecting them, and with statements concerning
manners and conditions in Siam.

The Board of Directors proposed the following Bye-Law, which
•was unanimously adopted :

If any Corporate Member shall for two years fail to pay his as-
sessments, his name may, at the discretion of the Directors, be
dropped from the list of Members of the Society.

xli

An Annual Meeting was held in Boston, on the 14th of May,
1856. In the absence of the President, the Society was called to
order by the Rev. Dr. Jenks, Vice-President, who then resigned the
chair to the Rev. Dr. Anderson.

After the transaction of preliminary business, and the reading of
correspondence, the following persons were chosen officers of the
Society for 1856-57:

President, Rev. Dr. E. ROBINSON of New York.

f Rev. Dr. W. Jenks " Boston.
Vice-Presidents, < Rev. Pres. T. D. Woolsey of New Haven.

( Prof. C. Beck of Cambridge.

Corr. Secretary, " E. E. Salisbury " New Haven.

Seer, of Class. Section, " James Hadley " "

Rec. Secretary, Mr. Ezra Abbott, Jr. " Cambridge.

Treasurer, " " "

Librarian, Prof. W. D. Whitney " New Haven.

"Rev. Dr. R. Anderson " Boston.

Prof. C. C. Felton « Cambridge.

Directors, -J Rev. T. Parker " Boston.

Dr. C. Pickering « "
Mr. W. W. Greenough « «

On recommendation of the Board of Directors, article VII of the
Constitution was amended to read :

The Secretaries, Treasurer, and Librarian shall be ex officio
members of the Board of Directors, etc.

Rev. W. R. Alger read to the Society specimens of Oriental poe-
try, rendered into verse by himself, from various translations.

Rev. Dr. Anderson spoke with regard to his recent journey to
India.

Rev. Mr. Treat exhibited and remarked upon a copy of the Poly-
glotta Africans.

xlii

A Semi-annual Meeting was held in New Haven, on the 8th and

9th of October, 1856. The President was absent, and the chair

was taken by Rev. Pres. Woolsey, the only V ice-President present.
The following communications were made to the Society, after the

reading of the correspondence of the past five months :

On the Varieties of Human Language, as illustrated and exempli-
fied by characteristic specimens of single languages of different
families; by Prof. Gibbs, of New Haven.

Contributions from the Atharva- Veda to the Theory of Sanskrit
Verbal Accent ; by Prof. Whitney, of New Haven.

Was Publius Sulpicius Quirinius Praeses of Syria more than once ?
being in the main an abstract of A. W. Zumpt's discussion of the
question in the second volume of his Commentationes Epigraphi-
cae ; with a notice of its bearing upon the authenticity of Luke
ii. 2 ; by Rev. Pres. Woolsey, of New Haven.

On Hindu Astronomy, being a translation from the Sanskrit of the
Surya-Siddhanta, with an introduction and notes, and a history of
the science in India ; by Rev. E. Burgess, formerly Missionary in
India, now of Centreville, Mass.

On the History of the lonians prior to the Ionian Migration, being
an abstract and critical examination of the views of Prof. Ernst
Curtius, of Berlin, as given in his work Die lonier vor der loni-
schen Wanderung ; by Prof. Hadley, of New Haven.

Leisure Moments in Hebrew Grammar ; a discussion of a few diffi-
cult points in the exegesis of the Old Testament, and the gram-
mar of the Hebrew ; by Prof. W. Henry Green, of Princeton :
presented by Prof. Gibbs.

Translations of two Hebrew documents, the one an account, by R.
Eliezer ben Nathan, of the sufferings of the Rhine Jews from
Christian bigotry at the time of the first Crusade ; the other a
letter to the German Jews, from Isaac of France, advising them
to emigrate to the East ; by Prof. W. Henry Green, of Princeton ;
presented and read in part by Prof. Whitney.

On the Mongol, or Turanian, Family of Languages and Nations,
by Prof. Whitney.

xliii

Mr. Cotheal, of New York, spoke of a forthcoming and now
nearly completed edition of the Makamat of Hariri, with notes, by
the Sheikh Nasif el-Yazijy.

Dr. M. C. White, of New Haven, exhibited specimens of Chinese
native lexica, and explained their method and character.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following members havesbeen added to the Society since the
last notice of new members was published.

1. Corporate Members.
Prof. E. P. Barrows, of Andovcr, Mass.
Rev. Convers Francis, D.D., of Cambridge, Mass.
Rev. W. H. Mcllvaine, D.D., of Rochester, N. Y.
Mr. W. A. Reynolds, Jr.. of New Haven.
Dr. Joseph Wilson, Jr., of the U. S. Navy.

2. Corresponding Members.
Dr. S. R. House, of Bangkok, Siam.

LIST OF THE MEMBEKS

OF THE

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY,

CORRECTED TO OCTOBER, 1856.

CORPORATE MEMBERS.

EZEA ABBOTT, Jr.,

Prof. G. J. ADLER,

Rev. WILLIAM R. ALGER,

Dr. HENRY J. ANPKRSON,

Rev. Dr. RUFUS ANDERSON,

Prof. ETHAN A. ANDREWS,

Prof. A. N. ARNOLD,

Prof. E. P. BARROWS,

JOHN R. BARTLETT.

Prof. CHARLES BECK,

Rev. HIRAM BINGHAM,

Rev. SAMUEL R. BROWN,

ELIHU BURRITT,

Rev. J. F. CLARKE,

Dr. JOSEPH G. COGSWELL,

ALEXANDER I. COTHEAL,

Prof. ALPHEUS CROSBY,

Prof. HOWARD CROSBY,

Hon. CALEB GUSHING,

Prof. GEORGE E. DAY,

EPES S. DIXWELL,

SAMUEL F. DUNLAP,

*PETER S. DUPONCEAD,

*Rev. Dr. BELA B. EDWARDS,

Prof. ROMEO ELTON,

*Hon. ALEXANDER H. EVXRETT,

Cambridge, Mass.

New York.

Boston.

New York.

Boston.

New Britain, Ct.

Newton Centre, Mass.

Andover, Mass.

Cambridge, Mass.
New Haven.
Owasco, N. Y.
Worcester, Mass.
Roxbury, Mass.
New York.

Newburyport, Mass.
New York.
Washington.
Cincinnati.
Cambridge, Mass.
New York
Philadelphia.
Andover, Mass.
Exeter, England.
Boston.

xlvi

HOD. EDWARD EVERETT,

Prof. CORNELIUS C. FELTON,

CHARLES FOLSOM,

JOHN M. FORBES,

Rev. Dr. CONVERS FRANCIS,

FRANCIS GARDNER,

Prof. JOSIAH W. GIBBS,

GEORGE R. GLIDDON,

Rev. DAVID GREEN,

Prof. W. HENRY GREEN,

WILLIAM W. GREENOUGH,

Prof. ARNOLD GUTOT,

Prof. JAMES HADLEY,

RICHARD K. HAIGHT,

HORATIO E. HALE,

Prof. FITZ-EDWARD HALL,

Prof. GESSNKR HARRISON,

Rev. Dr. FRANCIS L. HAWKS,

STANISLAS HERNISZ.

WILLIAM B. HODGSON,

Rev. A. L. HOLLADAY,

Rev. F. W. HOLLAND,

HENRY A. HOMES,

JAMES J. JARVES,

*Rev Dr. S. FARMAR JARVIS,

JOSEPH W. JENKS,

Rev. Dr. WILLIAM JENKS,

Prof. C. C. JEWETT,

*Prof. JAMES L. KINGSLEY,

CHARLES ERAITSIR,

Prof. GEORGE M. LANE,

Prof. FRANCIS LIKBER,

Prof. JOHN L. LINCOLN,

Lieut. WILLIAM F. LYNCH, U. S. N.

Rev. WILLIAM A. MACY,

Hon. GEORGE P. MARSH,

Rev. Dr. W. H. MclLVAiNE,

Rev. JAMES L. MERRICK,

Rev. J. W. MILES,

*EDWARD MOORE,

*Dr. SAMUEL G. MORTON,

*Rev. Dr. JAMES MURDOCK,

Boston.
Cambridge, Mas*.

Boston.

Cambridge, Maes.
Boston.
New Haven.
Philadelphia.
Windsor, Vt.
Princeton, N. J.
Boston.

Princeton, N. J.
New Haven.
New York.

Benares, India.
Charlottesville, Va.
New York.

New York.

Charlottesville, Va.

East Cambridge, Mass.

Albany.

Boston.

Middletown, Ct.

Boston.

Washington.
New Haven.
Boston.

Cambridge, Mass.
Columbia, S. C.
Providence.

China.

Burlington, Vt.
Rochester, N. Y.
South Amherst, Mass.
Charleston. S. C.
Newport, R. I.
Philadelphia.
New Haven.

xlvii

Rev. MARK MURPHY,
Prof. JOHN J. OWEX,
Rev. THEODORE PAIIKER,
Rev. Dr. SOLOMON PKOK,
GREKORY A. PKRDICARIS,
Dr. CHARLES PICKERING,
*Hon. JOHN PICKKRING,
Rev. Dr. SWAN L. POMROY,
GEORGE W. PRATT,
WILLIAM A. REYNOLDS, Jr.,
Rev. CHANDLER ROBBINS,
Rev. Dr. EDWAIID ROBINSON,
Prof. EDWARD E. SALISBURY,

Prof. SCHELE DE VfiRE,

CHARLKS SHORT,
Prof. J. M. SMEAD,
Rev. Dr. H. B. SMITH,

EVANGKLINUS A. SOPHOCLKS,

Prof. JESSE A. SPENCER,

WILLIAM W. STONE,

Prof. CALVIN E. STOWB,

*Prof. MOSES STUART,

Rev. JAMES B. TAYLOR,

*Rev. OLIVER A. TAYLOR,

SAMUEL H. TAYLOR,

*Rev. DANIEL TEMPLE,

Prof. THOMAS A. THACHER,

Rev. SELAH B. TREAT,

Rev. Dr. SAMUEL H. TURNER,

WILLIAM W. TURNER,

Rev. FERDINAND De W. WARD,

Rev. Pres. FRANCIS WAYLAND,

*NOAH WEBSTER,

Prof. WILLIAM D. WHITNEY,

Hon. SIDNEY WILLARD,

Dr. Jos. WILSON, Jr., U.S. IT.

Rev. GEORGE W. WOOD,

Rev. Pres. LEONARD WOODS, Jr.,

Rev. Pres. THEODORE D. WOOLSKY,

JOSEPH E. WORCESTER,

Staten Tsland.
New York.

Boston.

•

Newark, N. J.
Boston.

New York.
New Haven.
Boston.
New York.
New Haven.
Charlottesville, Ya.
Philadelphia.
Williamsburg, Va.
New York.
Cambridge, Mass.
New York.

Andover, Mass.

« U

Richmond.
Manchester, Mass.
Andover, "
Reading, "
New Haven.
Boston.
New York.
Washington.
Geneseo, N. Y.
Providence.
New Haven,

Cambridge, Mass.

New York.
Brunswick, Me.
New Haven.
Cambridge, Mass.

xlviii

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.

Rev. Dr. J. C. ADAMSON,
Rev. DAVID O. ALLEN,
Rev. HENRY BALLANTINE,
Dr. JAMES R. BALLANTINE,
Rev. CEPHAS BENNETT,
Rev. WILLIAM A. BENTON,

Hon. CHABLES W. BRADLEY,
Rev. Dr. ELIJAH C. BRIDQIIAN,

JOHN P. BROWN,

Rev. NATHAN BROWN,
Dr. HEINRICH BRUGSCH,
*Rev. JAMES C. BRYANT,
Rev. EBENEZER BURGESS,
Rev. ALBERT BUSHNELL,
Rev. SIMEON H. CALHOUK,

Mons. J. COR,

Rev. E. B. CROSS,

Rev. HARRISON G. 0. DWIGHT,

Rev. CORNELIUS V. A. VAN DYCK, M.D.,

Dr. HENRY A. DE FOREST.

Prof. GUSTAV FLUEGEL,

Rev. WILLIAM GOODELL,

Rev. LEWIS GROUT,

Dr. J. G. GUNTHER,

Rev. CYRUS HAMLIN,

Rev. HENRY R. HOISINGTON,

Prof. C. A. HOLMBOE,

Dr. S. R. HOUSE,

Rev. J. W. JOHNSON,

Rev. GEORGE JONES, U. S. N.

*Rev. JOHN T. JONES,

*Rev. ADONIRAM JUDSON,

Prof. MIRZA KASEM BEG,

CHE.V. KHANIKOFF,

*Rev. HKNRY LOBDELL, M.D.,

Rev. D. J. MACGOWAX, M.D.,

Philadelphia.
Missionary in India.

Benares.

Missionary in Burma.

" Syria.

( Consul of the U. States at Ning-
( po, China.

Missionary in China.
i Dragoman of the U. States Lega-
( tion at the Ottoman Porte.

Missionary in Asam.

Berlin.

Missionary in South Africa.

Missionary in West Africa.

" Syria.

( First Dragoman of the French
i Embassy at the Ottoman Porte.
Missionary in Burma.
Turkey.
" Syria.

Meissen, Saxony.
Missionary in Turkey.

" South Africa.

Roxbury, Mass.
Missionary in Turkey.
Williamstown, Mass.
Christiania, Norway.
Missionary in Siam.

" China.

Missionary in Siam.

" Burma.

St. Petersburg.

Russian Consul-General at Tabriz.
Missionary at Mosul.

" in China.

xlix

Rev. DWIGHT W. MARSH,
Rev. FRANCIS MASON,
Prof. MAX MULLER,
Hon. PETER PARKER, M. D.,
Rev. Dr. JUSTIN PERKINS,
*Rev. Dr. DANIEL POOR,

JAMES W. REDHOUSK,

Rev. ELIAS RIGGS,

Prof. RUDOLPH ROTH,

Rev. WILLIAM G. SCHADFFLEE,

Rev. WILLIAM W. SCUDDER,

*Dr. AZARIAH SMITH,

Rev. Dr. ELI SMITH,

Rev. WILLIAM H. STEELI,

Rev. DAVID T. STODDAHD,

Rev. WILLIAM TRACT,

Rev. WILLIAM M. THOMSON,

Rev. WILLIAM WALKER,

Prof. ALBRECHT WEBER,

Prof. GUSTAV WEIL,

Rev. M. C. WHITE, M.D.,

Dr. SAMUEL WELLS WILLIAMS,

Rev. JOHX L. WILSON,

Rev. MIRON WINSLOW,

WILLIAM WINTHROP,

Rev. AUSTIN H. WRIGHT, M.D.,

Missionary in Mosul.

" Burma.

Oxford, England.

XT. States Commissioner to China.
Missionary in Persia.

" Ceylon.

1 Principal of the Bureau of Inter-
preters of the Ottoman Impe.
rial Diwan.
Missionary in Turkey.
Tubingen, Wiirtemberg.
Missionary in Turkey.

« India.

" Turkey.

" Syria.

Newark, N. J.
Missionary in Persia.

" India.

" Syria.

" West Africa.

Berlin.

Heidelberg, Baden.
New Haven.
Missionary in China.
New York.
Missionary in India.
Consul of the U. States in Malta.
Missionary in Persia.

HONORARY MEMBERS,

Maha Raja APURVA KRISHNA BAHADUR, Calcutta.

JAMES BIRD, Bombay.

Dr. OTTO BOKHTLINGK, St. Petersburg.

Sir JOHN BOWRING, Hongkong.

Prof. FRANZ BOPP, Berlin.

*Prof. EUGENE BUHNOUF, Paris.

RICHARD CLARKE, London.

Prof. GEORG HEINE. ADO. VON EWALD, Gdttiiigen.

*Prof. FORBES FAI.CONKR, . London."

M. CHAMPOLLION FIGEA'C, Paris.

Prof. GEORG WI'LHELM FEETTAO, Bonn, Prussia.

His Excellency FUAD EKFENDI," Constantinople.

Dr. JULIUS FUERST, Leipzig, Saxony.

*Prof. WILHELM GESENICS, Halle, "

Prof. JACOB GRIMM, Berlin.

Baron VON HAMMER-PURGSTALL, Vienna,

*Count GRAEBERG DA HEMSOE, Florence.

Baron ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, • . Berlin.

*Count AMEDEE JAUBERT, Paris.

Prof. STANISLAS JULIEN, "

Rev. Dr. JOHN DUNMORE LANG, Sidney, N. S. Wales.

Prof. CHRISTIAN LASSEN, Bonn, Prussia.

Prof. RICHARD LEPSIUS, Berlin.

Prof. JULIUS MOHL, Paris.

Prof. JULIUS HEINR. PETERMANN, Berlin.

*Dr. JAMES COWLES PRICHARD, Bristol, England.

Mah& Raja RADDHAK.A.NTA DEVA, Calcutta.

Prof. REINAUD, Paris.

Prof. CARL RITTKR, Berlin.

Prof. EMII.IUS ROEDIGER, Halle, Prussia.

*Count IPPOLITO ROSSELUNI, Pisa, Tuscany.

Prof. FRIEDRICH RUECKERT, Coburg.

His Excellency SAFVET EFFETOI, Constantinople.

Prof. GARCIN DE TASST, Paris.

Prof. C. J. TORNBERG, UpsaL

*Sir HENRY W. TORRENS, Calcutta.

*Prof. WILHKLM MARTIN LIZBR. DK WETTB, Basel

Sir J. GARDINER WIIJJINSON, London.

Prof. HORACE HAYMAN WiLSoir, "

PJ American Oriental Society

2 Journal

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